Banished Destiny
by Mrs.InsaneOne
Summary: Sent into an alternate dimension through time and across space by his godfather, Harry must learn to fend for himself in a war torn universe where technology is society's lifeblood. Story is AU. Pairings will be revealed later. Powerful!Harry, Smarter!Harry, Evil!Dumbledore, and Evil!Snape.
1. Prologue: A Daring Rescue by Banishment

**Main Characters:** _H. Potter, H. Yuy, D. Maxwell, T. Barton, Q. Winner, and W. Chang._

**Summary:** _Sent into an alternate dimension through time and across space by his godfather, Harry must learn to fend for himself in a war torn universe where technology is society's lifeblood. Story is AU. Pairings will be revealed later. Powerful!Harry, Smarter!Harry, Evil!Dumbledore, and Evil!Snape._

_**Disclaimer:** __Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written. This plot bunny is only camping out in my back yard temporarily or it would be if I had a back yard for it to camp in. Hmm… anyone for rabbit stew?_

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, brief mentions of implied rape (no descriptions), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), angst, drama, character bashing of Dumbledore and a few Weasleys, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _I swore I was never going to post a story on this site that was not completed but I really needed something to distract me from the slump I've found myself in and this story is very close to being completed (as in I only have two or three more chapters and the epilogue left to write). It also has 57 ½ chapters written and is currently around 475,000 words long so I don't expect to run out of postable material any time soon and hope to have it finished before I get to the point where I catch up to the chapter I am working on._

_I should warn you now that more than a few of the characters will end up being OOC though I tried to be as faithful to their canon personalities as I could. Some of them will change as the story progresses and some will seem off right from the start; this is especially true of the Gundam Wing characters. Romance will not be a large factor in the story until later chapters and pairings will not be announced until later down the line. There may be **hints** of slash but I am not a slash writer and the main pairings will **not** be slash. I have nothing against same sex relationships but it is not something that I feel comfortable writing outside of a brief mention. So please don't expect me to pair Harry with one of the pilots._

_That said, I hope you enjoy the story. ~ Jenn_

**AN2:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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**Banished Destiny  
**Prologue: A Daring Rescue by Banishment

A large black dog, whose dark coat was liberally sprinkled with pale gray, nosed his way into the unoccupied office and sniffed the air cautiously in order to verify that there was no one waiting to ambush him. Satisfied that the room was unoccupied but for himself, the dog slipped all the way inside of the room and padded his way towards the desk. Two seconds later, the dog stood up on its hind legs and blurred out of existence as the dog transformed into a man with shaggy black hair heavily peppered with gray and slightly insane blue eyes that burned intensely with determination and grief wearing ragged and torn robes. The man glanced around the room once before he began ruffling through the papers on the desk that was used by the escaped Death Eater that had been impersonating Alastor Moody for the entire school year.

"Aha, gotcha," Sirius Black crowed softly as he lifted a rather old and battered looking scrap of parchment out from under the mess that covered the desk. He quickly unfolded the parchment as he pulled his old school wand out of his tattered robes and tapped the map as he intoned, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

As the lines of the magically created map raced across the parchment, Sirius scoured the halls of Hogwarts for a specific dot. "Found you," Sirius whispered with a feral grin as his eyes landed on the portion of the map that represented the Hospital Wing of the school. "You won't prevent me from saving my godson this time, you evil old codger."

Tucking the map into his pocket, Sirius hurried over to the seven compartment trunk that belonged to the real Alastor Moody and rifled through each of the seven compartments until he came to the one Moody had been imprisoned in for most of the year. That compartment was a real mess and Sirius wrinkled his nose in distaste as he leaned down into the room to make certain there wasn't anything inside there that would cause problems for his godson. He would have loved to clean it out but he didn't have the time to clean it by hand and the amount of magic he'd need to clean it by wand would destabilize the magic of the trunk.

Sighing, Sirius locked up the other six compartments (leaving the filthy if empty seventh compartment unlocked) and pocketed the keys before shrinking the trunk down to a more manageable size before it joined the keys in his pocket. When a quick glance around the room turned up nothing else worthwhile, Sirius morphed back into his animagus form and dashed out of the room towards the dungeons so he could raid the potions supply room. The moment he reached the damp passages leading down into the bowels of the castle, Sirius changed back into his human form and checked the time on his watch before pulling out the map to make certain there was no one around.

He then quickly moved towards his destination and once he reached the proper door, he carefully dismantled the wards on the supply room before slipping inside and locking the door behind him. Working quickly, Sirius pulled out two dozen wooden crates the size of a tennis ball, restored them to their full size with a flick of his wand, and used the pack charm to transfer all of the ingredients and potions stored in the room into the crates (taking care to keep everything as neat as possible despite how rushed he felt). When the last bottle flew neatly into place in the final create, Sirius sealed the crates with his wand and checked the time and the map again before he pulled Moody's trunk back out of his pocket and restored it to full size.

He hurriedly slipped out of his outer robe and set it on one of the empty shelves before he reopened the section of the trunk Moody had been imprisoned in and carefully transferred the twenty four crates of potions and potion ingredients into the trunk. He then pulled out several more shrunken crates and restored them to full size before he slipped into the potions classroom to clear out the all of the ingredients in the student supply cabinet, remove every last potions text kept in the classroom's bookshelf, and pack up every last one of the creepy jars filled with the preserved remains of various creatures in various stages of development (just to spite Snivellus).

The process was repeated again in Snape's office (packing up anything worthwhile) which sat directly beside the classroom on the opposite side as the supply room. All of those crates soon joined the others in Moody's trunk and Sirius put his robes back on before closing and shrinking the trunk. Another check of the map confirmed that his next destination was unoccupied and the quickest route there free of any witnesses or potential problems before he checked his watch again to make certain he wasn't running behind schedule. He ducked out of the supply room, reset the wards, changed back into Padfoot two minutes later, and dashed off once more.

His next three targets were the supply rooms for Herbology, Transfiguration, and Charms (leaving behind sealed and warded letters for Sprout, McGonagall, and Flitwick that would explain what had happened to their class props and supplies). He then headed for the hospital wing where Dumbledore was just now holding his 'parting of ways' with Cornelius Fudge while several other individuals watched the unfolding drama. He slipped into a hidden passage not far from the infirmary just as Minister Fudge stomped off in anger after his short argument with Dumbledore.

Quickly transforming back into his human self, Sirius studied the map once more; noting the positions of Dumbledore, Pomfrey, McGonagall, Snape, the real Moody, Skeeter, Granger, Weasley, his younger self, and most importantly – his godson. A nervous house elf popped into the passage way at that moment with several more crates and boxes and Sirius restored Moody's trunk for the fifth or sixth time and quickly helped the elf load the boxes into the open compartment. The elf popped away the moment the last box was packed away and Sirius checked the time yet again before he went back to studying the map.

Barely six minutes had past before a different elf turned up with yet more boxes, trunks, and crates that were quickly loaded into the trunk. Four more times the two elves popped in with more unwanted junk and surplus supplies that were being gathered up from around the castle, packed into the nearest crate, and loaded into the stolen trunk. Two hours after having reclaimed the Marauder's Map, Sirius loaded the last of the purloined loot into the trunk and locked the compartment before shrinking the trunk down and setting it off to one side as the first elf stood off to one side twisting his hands nervously.

"Dobby, were you able to collect everything from the list I gave you?" Sirius asked softly, the first words he'd spoken to the elf since entering the passageway.

"Yes, Mister Harry Potter sir's Father Dog, Dobby found everything Mister Harry Potter sir's Father Dog asked Dobby to find," Dobby squeaked as he began passing several items over to Sirius.

"Good job, Dobby, I knew I could count on you," Sirius praised as he set everything down beside Moody's trunk and addressed the elf once more. "It's time for you and Winky to collect Hedwig and take her to Grimmauld Place where she will be safe; remember it's your job to take care of her from now on. Don't let Kreacher give you any trouble and make certain Winky stays out of the butterbeer."

"Dobby understands, Mister Harry Potter sir's Father Dog; Dobby will do as Dobby is told."

Sirius watched the little elf disappear one last time before he glanced down to check the time and breathed out a sigh of relief when he noted that he was actually ahead of schedule. He then took a moment to sort through the various items that Dobby had handed over to him which included; Harry's personal trunk, Harry's Firebolt, the penknife that Sirius had given Harry for Christmas that year, Harry's invisibility cloak, a trio of hand written journals, a heavy gold ring, a key ring holding one gold key and three silver keys, an old English broadsword, and a picnic basket filled with enough food to feed a family of three for a week. He took a moment to shrink the trunk, broom, journals, and basket before turning back to check on the current positions of everyone.

"Don't worry, Harry," Sirius murmured as he leaned back against the wall of the hidden passageway and watched the dots moving about inside of the infirmary. "I'll get you out of there and send you to a place where you can make a life for yourself away from those who would beat you down, steal from you without remorse, betray you at the drop of a hat, and plot your death to claim your fame and fortune."

Without taking his eyes off of the map, Sirius began pulling several more shrunken items out of his pockets; four additional shrunken trunks that were identical, several wands bundled together with Spellotape, several more journals, a doll sized stone bowl filled with what looked like quicksilver, and a heavy silver ring. There was also a second key ring with three gold keys and four silver keys, a highly detailed and surprisingly heavy model of a nineteen-fifty-nine Triumph Bonneville motorcycle complete with sidecar, a letter, six potion vials, a rather strange looking device with a large blue dome attached to the front of it below which sat a row of buttons and knobs, and a magically reinforced box made from white oak that was roughly the size and shape of a cigar box – only twice as deep.

A brief search through his pockets insured that he hadn't missed any of the items he'd gathered in order to make certain that his godson would have everything he needed to survive. Nodding to himself, Sirius began packing everything but the four identical trunks, Moody's trunk, three of the potions, the letter, and the weird device into the wooden box before closing the box and using his wand to attach the letter to the top of the lid. The box, the five trunks, the remaining potions, and the device were quickly tucked back into his pocket as he finally noticed McGonagall, Granger, and Weasley being sent from the Infirmary; the small dot labeled as Skeeter following the trio and practically overlapping the dot labeled as Granger.

Shortly after McGonagall led Weasley and Granger off towards Gryffindor Tower, Pomfrey retreated to her office leaving Snape and the younger Sirius in the infirmary with Dumbledore and Harry. Some ten minutes later, the younger Sirius ran from the hospital wing and the older Sirius knew that Dumbledore had just sent his past self to contact the living members of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape left shortly after and the older Sirius smirked evilly as he was well aware that Dumbledore had just sent the potions master to spy on Voldemort. The smirk turned feral as Sirius imagined the reception Snape had waiting for him at the dark lord's side; courtesy of a couple documents and a few damning memories Sirius had sent the newly revived dark lord four hours earlier.

Sirius then clenched his jaw as he watched Dumbledore's dot hover over the bed where Harry was laying for several long minutes. He knew that this was the moment when Dumbledore bound an additional fifteen percent of Harry's core, sealed away a dozen or so of Harry's memories of the events that had taken place earlier in the evening (numerous earlier memories having been sealed by memory charms each time Harry ended up in the infirmary over the years), and planted several 'suggestions' into Harry's mind using a rather dark mind control spell that was similar to the Imperius but worked in conjunction with a potion which made it nigh impossible to break.

Pressing his hand against the pocket where he'd tucked the three potions he hadn't packed in the box, Sirius reminded himself that he had the means to free Harry from all of the various bindings, blocks, and spells that had been illegally used on him as he silently urged Dumbledore to hurry up and leave. His wish was granted several minutes later as Dumbledore apparently finished his task and sauntered out of the infirmary; the aged wizard heading towards his office to gloat. Sirius disillusioned himself as he waited for the manipulative, backstabbing wizard to reach the third floor before he slipped out of the secret passageway he'd been hiding inside of and hurried into the hospital wing while keeping one eye on the map he held in his hand.

The first thing he did was to cover the various portraits that lined the walls of the Hospital Ward to prevent them from seeing what he was about to do and make certain that Moody was out for the count so the paranoid ex-auror wouldn't be able to repeat what he saw to Dumbledore later. Once that was done, he snuck up on Madam Pomfrey in her office and stunned her from behind so that there was no chance of the school healer coming out and interfering with Sirius's plans before dropping the disillusionment charm. He then spent close to ten minutes stealing her extensive stock of healing and rare potions which he transferred into Moody's trunk with the rest of the stuff he'd collected, pulled Harry's extensive medical file (which even listed the illegal potions and spells that Dumbledore, Snape, and Pomfrey had used on Harry through the years), shrunk the file so that it would fit inside of the box, and then tucked both trunk and file into the wooden box with the rest of the things he was giving to Harry.

Next he hurried to the bed where Harry was currently sleeping, pulled out one of the potion vials from his pocket, and sat his godson up just enough to feed him the shimmering blue potion that filled the vial he'd selected. He then used his wand to cut open Harry's right thumb and smeared each of the four identical trunks with Harry's blood in order to key him into the security wards on the trunks before healing the cut he made. Those trunks then joined everything else in the box and once he closed the box, Sirius cast a series of protective wards over the entire package in order to prevent it from being damaged or falling open if dropped.

"That should keep people from stealing your stuff if you end up unconscious in a crowded area and the potion will clear your body of any and all foreign magic, pup," Sirius murmured as he settled his godson back on the bed and pulled out the strange device.

Glancing at the map in his left hand, Sirius made certain there was no one approaching the infirmary before he pulled out his wand and used it to trim off a thick lock of Harry's hair that he tucked into a tissue that he pulled from the table beside Harry's bed before he stuffed the bundle into his pocket. He then picked up the wooden box of supplies and slipped it into the sling that Madam Pomfrey had secured Harry's injured left arm in along with Harry's wand and applied a password protected sticking charm to prevent sling, box, and wand from getting lost. Next, he unbuttoned the flimsy hospital shirt that Harry was wearing before picking up the strange device and attached the machine-like object directly to Harry's chest with a pair of straps that he slipped around Harry's body; the process of which drew his godson back to consciousness.

"Sirius…?"

"Shh… not so loud, pup," Sirius murmured as he tightened the straps and used a few spells to reinforce them.

"What…? I thought you…"

"Shh… I don't have time to answer your questions right now, Harry. I need to get you out of here."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, I left you a letter explaining what I'm doing; you can read it later," Sirius stated as he tapped the large blue gem-like dome on the device that he'd attached to Harry's chest with his wand; causing the dome to light up with a gold light that turned the globe green. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you when I had the chance." Sirius leaned down and hugged Harry tightly with one arm as he pushed and turned the buttons and knobs on the device he'd attached to Harry's chest.

"Sirius, you're scaring me," Harry cried out in confusion as he clung to the older man.

"Go make a life for yourself, pup," Sirius ordered as he pulled himself free of Harry's hands and stepped back away from the teen. "Brace yourself now, Harry, the ride is going to get a little rough and you will also have to deal with the pain of the purger clearing the foreign magic from your body and your mind. Don't forget the Map's password; you'll need it when you get there."

There was no chance for Harry to reply as the device finished powering up and pulled him out of reality. Sirius shook as he stared at the empty hospital bed while tears ran down his face even as he smiled in triumph; he'd successfully sent his godson to a place where Dumbledore could never harm him again. Shoving aside the grief that was filling his heart over the knowledge that he'd never again see his godson, Sirius pulled out the bit of hair he'd taken from Harry. He then pulled out the other two vials he had (both of them containing the same thick grayish potion) and dropped an eighth of Harry's hair into each vial before shaking them until the hair dissolved and the potions changed from a lumpy gray to a smooth reddish gold (the rest of the hair going back into his pocket in case he needed it later).

"Live well, pup, live well," Sirius told the empty bed as he downed half of one vial and tucked what remained into his robe pocket as the modified Polyjuice Potion began transforming him into an exact copy of his now missing godson.

Sirius then climbed into the bed that Harry had occupied just a few minutes before and made himself comfortable before transfiguring his clothes so he was now dressed in a set of hospital pajamas. Sighing softly, he closed his eyes and simply waited for sleep to take him as the strain of traveling over fifteen years into the past and scrambling non-stop for over five weeks in order to get his plans into place finally caught up with him. All he had to do was get through the last three days before the end of term and then he could return to his proper time.

The last thought Sirius had as he sank into the darkness was that he'd at least saved his godson from another three years of the pain and grief that Dumbledore and Snape had planned for him.

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Harry screamed as he felt a band of fire wrap around his chest while he felt like he was being turned inside out and pulled apart at the same time; the feeling was ten times worse than the Cruciatus Curse that Voldemort had subjected him to less than five hours earlier. If that wasn't bad enough, the potion that Sirius had fed him while he was still asleep had finally worked its way through Harry's entire system and began attacking the foreign magic that was clinging to his mind, magical core, body, and soul.

It felt as if he was literally being shredded from the inside out as every single memory charm, every single mind control spell, every drop of potion (that was still in his system), and every last binding that was restraining his magic was forcefully removed by the potion flowing through his veins. Unfortunately, there were a few things that Sirius had forgotten to take into consideration when he planned out his godson's rescue.

In his desire to free Harry from the various spells and bindings that had been placed on him, he completely over looked the fact that Harry had three additional sources of foreign magic running through his very veins (aside from those he'd hoped to remove) and that the magic transporting the teen to safety had bound itself to him temporarily in order to transport him. The foreign magic that pervaded Harry's body was the basilisk venom and phoenix tears from his escapades in his second year in addition to a soul fragment that Voldemort had left in Harry's scar the night he tried to kill Harry when he was a toddler.

The presence of those two magical substances (spread throughout every single living cell within Harry's entire body with the largest concentrations residing his blood), the magic linked to the soul piece (tied to his very soul and his magical core), and the magic transporting him had integrated themselves so tightly to Harry that the purger treated them as a part of Harry's magic. That meant that the potion pulled every single drop of magic from the venom, tears, and transport device and merged them with Harry's magical core under the mistaken belief that the foreign magic that had been used on him had ruptured Harry's core at one point and therefore sought to rectify the damage.

At the same time it stripped and purified the dark magic from the soul fragment, killing that piece of Tom Riddle's soul, before merging the now cleansed magic with Harry's core; which when combined with the magic from the tears, venom, and device, more than doubled the amount of magic in Harry's magical core. The pain of the merging magics, the pain of the other spells being removed, and the pain caused by the strange device strapped to his chest (which was now malfunctioning due to having nearly all of its magic stolen by the purger) soon overwhelmed Harry and sent him fleeing into the depths of unconscious in order to escape the searing agony.

While his body was pulled through both space and time, the magic of the potion continued to purge Harry's body and the merging of his magic with that of the venom, tears, device, and the sliver of Riddle's magic began making several unexpected changes to the fourteen year old. Eventually, the device Sirius had used to send Harry to his freedom deposited the teen on the rather remote stretch of beach of a small deserted rocky island that sat just off the southern coast of Japan. The moment the device had completed its objective it cracked in half and dissolved into gold sand; more than half of which was absorbed into Harry's skin while the rest was washed away by the incoming tide.

Harry woke up hours later as the pleasantly cold waves of the evening tide soothed his aching, burning body as they swept gently over him. Opening his eyes he stared up at the star studded sky and wondered how he'd ended up on the shore of the Black Lake. There was a brief moment when he thought maybe the Weasley twins had pranked him but that thought quickly passed when he finally realized that the constellations he was seeing were not quite right for the time of year or what he thought was his current location. He was still trying to figure out what was going on while ignoring the throbbing pain in his head when a series of large waves (stirred up by a passing ship in the night) washed right over top of him; roughly pushing him further up onto the beach.

Gasping and choking, Harry rolled over onto his stomach and crawled away from the water as best he could with his body feeling as if he'd been hit by a train or two and his injured arm still strung up in a strangely poor fitting sling that he recalled fitting just perfectly when first put on. Once he felt marginally safe, Harry rolled over onto his side and stared wide eyed out at the ocean; his heart pounding and his ears roaring as he tried to remember how he'd ended up on the beach. He kept drawing a complete blank though, his head throbbing and aching far too much to make sense of anything let alone think coherently.

Tears filled Harry's eyes as his fear and the lingering pain began pressing down on him and he brought his right hand up to wipe his face free of the wet sand he could feel sticking to it only to pause in confusion when he found the sleeve of his shirt hanging a good seven or eight inches beyond his hand. His eyes then drifted down to the rest of his body, absently noting that it looked like he was swimming in the hospital pajamas he was wearing and that even the hem of the pants extended far beyond his feet. It wasn't the size of the clothes he was wearing that would send Harry into complete shock though; no it was the size of his hands and feet once he managed to get them clear of the soaked clothing.

Harry Potter had always been short and skinny for as long as he could remember; something that his classmates through the years had always taken perverse pleasure in pointing out and teasing him about. It meant that Harry had gone through much of his life looking a good two years younger than he actually was and it had aggravated Harry to no end (though he rarely ever showed that irritation since that would usually get him in hot water with his relatives or a teacher). So, when he uncovered his limbs to discover that his already smaller than average body had grown even smaller he was understandably upset.

Pain and panic soon sent Harry fleeing back into the arms of Morpheus.

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**09-22-12:** _Updated chapter to correct the Marauder's Map's password as I fudged slightly on the wording. A big thanks to luvsanime02 for pointing that out! ~ Jenn_


	2. The Boy on the Beach

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written.  
_

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 1: The Boy on the Beach

As he waited for the sun to rise, Harry stood on the small outcrop of rocks that jutted out into the ocean just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the cave he'd made his home. Approximately one year and ten months had passed since Harry had woken up and found himself stranded on an empty beach in the middle of the night. It had taken him nearly two weeks to finally realize that the whole thing hadn't been a potion induced nightmare or an elaborate prank created by the Weasley twins.

Part of the delay in accepting his new circumstances had come from the splitting headaches that had constantly plagued him for the first week while the rest of it was the combination of his reduced stature and the inexplicable return of hundreds of long forgotten memories; many of which he'd rather have forgotten completely. About the same time he finally accepted he was no longer at Hogwarts (and that he hadn't been pranked), he found his wand, a letter, and the box that Sirius had magically attached to the useless, oversized sling. Once he'd freed all three items (it had taken him a full day to remember Sirius's final parting words about the map's password), he'd immediately read the letter that Sirius had left him.

That letter explained a bit about how and why Harry had ended up on the beach (and confirmed that he wasn't being pranked); though it said nothing about how or why he'd been shrunk to the size of a seven year old. It also hadn't given him any idea of where he'd ended up as Sirius had apparently had no way of fixing a specific destination on the device he'd used to send Harry across time and space into a completely different dimension. Once Harry was clear-headed enough to use his brain, he'd spent a day or two trying to decide what he should do and where he should go.

Experiences from Harry's first childhood, under the less than caring hands of his not-quite-abusive-but-far-from-loving relatives and certain individuals within Hogwarts, had taught him not to trust adults and prevented him from seeking help from the potential inhabitants of this world. Instead, he'd crept along the beach looking for shelter and quickly discovered that he was trapped on an uninhabited island with no way to reach the mainland because while he could see the shore it was too far for him to swim. Not surprising when one considered the fact that he didn't really know how to swim and his current body lacked the strength of his former body; even with the help of the gillyweed he'd found in his stores it would have been impossible to swim that far.

He eventually found a small series of interconnected caves that had been carved from the side of a cliff by the tide hundreds of years earlier and made himself as comfortable as he could. If not for the supplies that Sirius had thoughtfully gathered for him, Harry probably would have been forced to find a way across to the mainland so he could seek out civilization in order to survive regardless of how he felt about finding other people. Thankfully, his godfather had thought well ahead and provided Harry with everything he would need to survive for at least three years on his own; longer if he was extra careful with his rations (which he was since he'd never really eaten all that much over the course of the day and old habits die hard – a habit that had allowed him to survive those first two weeks without food or water with the help of his magic).

In the beginning, not long after he discovered the letter and the package from his godfather, it had been difficult for Harry to find a reason to live due to everything he now remembered and had learned from his godfather. Even now (nearly two years later), he still had frequent nightmares about Voldemort's rebirth, Cedric's murder, and hundreds of other terrible things he'd witnessed and experienced during his four years at Hogwarts.

If not for Sirius anticipating that Harry would have difficulty in accepting a number of the terrible things that had been done to him over the years, he probably would have been driven insane by his memories and nightmares or tried to commit suicide in order to escape his dark past. As it was, Sirius did anticipate Harry's psychological troubles and provided his godson with both words of comfort (brief though they were) and plenty of distractions in order to help Harry pull through the dark days.

Glancing up, Harry saw what he thought was a shooting star streaking across the pre-dawn sky and on a childish whim made a wish, "I wish my life had purpose; I'm tired of just existing."

Harry snorted after a moment when he realized what he'd wished for; his cynical side admonishing him for being so childish. Shaking his head, he pushed away his fatalistic thoughts and focused once more on the stars in the sky that were fading little by little as the sun crept over the horizon. After several minutes, his eyes were drawn to the south as several large explosions tore across the sky and he frowned as he tried to think of what could have possibly caused them.

He was caught completely off guard less than ten minutes later when he saw what looked like two huge robots locked in an embrace plunge into the ocean not more than thirty miles from where he was standing on the rocky outcrop. Startled by the strange sight, Harry was completely unprepared for the large wave created by the crashing machines that washed up and over the rocks where he had been standing and found himself swept away just moments later. Cursing his inattention, Harry braced himself as the force of the water dragged his body over the ragged rocks that made up the water break, tearing his back, side, and leg open as they scraped off a large amount of skin and muscle tissue.

The pain was far worse than he originally expected though and as he opened his mouth to scream he immediately began choking on the sea water that rushed in to fill his lungs. Letting his body go limp, he allowed the wave of water to carry him back to the beach in the hopes that he might survive his own stupidity. The sting of sand scraping across his injured back, side, and leg brought forth another strangled scream and at the same time allowed Harry to cough up the water he'd inhaled the first time he had screamed as his body was shoved haphazardly across the beach before the water withdrew.

"I wished for a purpose, not pain," Harry barked out petulantly as he glared up at the heavens. Gasping and coughing up even more water, Harry rolled over onto his stomach and wearily got up on his knees. After a few minutes, he felt the pain recede enough to climb up onto his feet and he carefully spun around so he could search for some sign of the strange robots he'd seen fall out of the sky as he muttered, "What in Merlin's grubby undershorts were those things anyway?"

Shaking his head, Harry turned away from the sea and limped off towards his home; needing to see how badly he'd injured himself this time. The first thing he did, was take a warm shower in the bathroom he'd built inside of his cave using runes and magic (something that Harry had taught himself over the past twenty-two months using the books that Sirius had sent with him).

Once he was finished cleaning them, a glimpse in the mirror hanging on the wall in his bedroom had Harry wincing as he took in the amount of damage he'd taken; the skin and quite a bit of underlying tissue having been scraped off his back from his left shoulder all the way down to his right hip in addition to the scrapes along his right side from the middle of his thigh up to his arm pit. They weren't very deep wounds but they were painful and wept a constant stream of blood that made them look far worse than they were. The deep bruises that were forming around and beneath the wounds didn't help make his back and side look any better either.

"That's going to take days to heal," Harry predicted with a hiss; knowing that even his innate ability to heal faster than the average human couldn't grow back that much skin and muscle overnight. "Better dig out a few rolls of gauze and see if I can't get the bleeding to stop at least. Damn, wish I'd spent more time learning a few healing charms instead of focusing on household charms, protective wards, and basic runes."

It took him close to an hour to treat and bandage his wounds, taking the time to coat the side of the bandages that would lay against his injuries with a thick healing paste that would numb the pain as he slowly wrapped his entire torso and upper half of his right leg. The cream stung and burned as it first came into contact with the open wounds but after a few minutes blessed numbness began setting in and Harry sighed as the last of his pain faded slowly into nothing. He'd have some difficulty moving about over the next couple of days whenever the effects of the healing ointment wore off but at least he wouldn't have to worry about an infection now.

Injuries treated, Harry turned his thoughts back to the strange robots he'd seen as he began wondering if those machines had been proof that the world he'd ended up in was inhabited. If it was, he wasn't certain whether or not he should be happy about that fact. He almost preferred to think of the entire planet as empty of all other life; though he'd always known that was more than a little presumptuous of him to think he had an entire world to himself. He couldn't help thinking it was best if he remained in permanent isolation; his past experiences telling him that if he was alone then he would be safe from the cruel intentions of others and the innocents would be free from the curse of pain and death that seemed to afflict those who came into contact with him.

Shaking his head in disgust at the direction his thoughts were going in, Harry used his wand to clean up the blood he'd spilt all through the house and vanished his ruined clothes as he forced himself to think about something other than his wretched past or his uncertain future by focusing on the spells he needed to clean up his messes. Once he was finished with that, he spent about fifteen minutes trying to read through the next chapter of the Handbook of Household Spells that he'd been slowly working his way through for the past four months but eventually gave up when he hadn't been able to concentrate on the theory behind the mirror enchanting spell that would give a mirror a personality (like the one he'd had in his room at the Leaky Cauldron – an unspoken acknowledgement of the loneliness that ate away at him).

He then spent about a half hour puttering about the cave playing with the various spells he'd learned earlier in the week until he accidentally blew up several of the throw pillows that had sat on his couches. Deciding it would be safer to wander aimlessly along the beach instead of systematically destroying his home due to inattention; Harry banished the feathers to the nearest corner so he could repair the pillows later, tucked his wand into his back pocket, and ducked out of his cave.

He'd been meandering along the tide line for about twenty minutes when he stumbled across the first bit of debris and he stopped to stare at the singed scrap of metal for a full minute before he turned his gaze towards the sea. He then turned his eyes towards the sky wondering if there would be people invading his beach to search for the remains of the robot things and he felt a wave of uncertainty wash over him at the mere thought that someone could potentially find him. Crouching down, Harry pulled out his wand and used it to prod the small scrap he'd found. He bit his lip as he considered what being found might mean for him before he climbed back up onto his feet and walked about a dozen paces before he turned to stare back at the piece of metal.

Harry let his gaze be drawn towards the place where he believed the two robots had hit the ocean before flicking them back towards the scrap on the beach again. He then glanced down at his wand as he furrowed his brow while thinking through the possible scenarios of being discovered by the ones who'd either destroyed the machines or the ones who made them and wished for them to be returned. He wasn't stupid; despite his apparent young age he knew that no matter who found him he'd either be killed on sight or thrown into their version of the child care system because he looked like a child and was obviously an orphan.

_The last thing I want is be thrust into a society I know nothing about,_ Harry thought to himself as he glanced up to search the sky and the surface of the ocean for signs of a search party. _There is no point in trying to find somewhere else to hide either; there is no other place on this island to hide and they'd surely catch me if I tried to cross over to the mainland. My cave and the surrounding beach are warded against intrusion anyway and should prevent anyone from finding me so long as I don't leave the wards. Maybe it was a good thing I focused more on wards rather than healing during my first year here. It would have been better if I had hid the entire island but I didn't think I'd need to at the time I first set up the wards and it would take far too long to do so now._

He started walking again only to stop and glance back at the scrap of metal once more; his mind unwilling to let go of the possibility that it was going to cause him no end of trouble. It took him a few minutes to realize that if even one piece of those robots was found on his island, then the entire area would be crawling with muggles, or worse wizards, for weeks or months on end until they found every last piece of the machines and the thought of being cooped inside of his cave for that long bothered Harry.

The only way to prevent that from happening would be to remove every last scrap of evidence that the machines had ended up anywhere near his cave and to do that Harry would have to either hide everything inside of his cave or destroy it completely. And he had to do it quickly, before they pinpointed the exact location of the machines and the bits of debris that had been washed up onto the shore (if they hadn't already done so).

Mind made up, Harry jogged back to the stretch of beach he'd warded for his own protection and stopped just outside the entrance to his cave where he fell into neutral stance with his feet positioned firmly on the sand a shoulder's width a part. Bringing his wand up, he concentrated on what he wanted before he cast a summoning charm to start collecting the broken pieces that were being washed up on shore. He didn't stop with just one spell though; he repeatedly cast the summoning charm in order to gather every single last piece of debris connected to the one he'd seen on the beach.

The veritable flood of spells used quite a bit of magic but he had more than enough available since his already large core had been increased when the magic from the venom, tears, transport device, and the fraction of Riddle's soul had merged with his magic (not that he knew that); though the strain of channeling that much power in such a short amount of time did take a toll on his de-aged body. He didn't think spending a few days lounging about his cave to recover would be too much of a bother though as he'd already known he'd be laid up for a while with his recent injury.

By the time Harry lowered his wand, he'd ended up with a pile of junk far larger than he thought he would and he hadn't even summoned the two robots yet. At least he'd maintained his focus when summoning everything; otherwise he might have ended up with even more junk (since there was bound to be older debris littering the ocean floor). Shaking his head, Harry spent a couple of minutes making certain that all of the pieces of scrap were well inside of his wards and as neatly stacked as he could get them before casting the summoning spell one last time.

He felt an immediate pull on his magic that was far more extensive than what he'd been using to summon the scraps and Harry staggered in response to the unexpected drain. He quickly learned why the final spell took so much out of him when the two monstrosities finally broke free of the water and flew towards his cave; more than a little shocked to find that the robots were far larger and far heavier than he expected. The entire ground shook when they crashed into the beach just in front of Harry and he ended up reopening the scrapes on his back and side when he threw himself back against the cliff wall in order to avoid being squashed by the giant machines.

"What the nine levels of hell have I gotten myself into this time?" Harry asked rhetorically as he pushed away from the rock wall behind him with a wince (the numbing effect of the healing paste he'd spread on his wounds not affecting the deeper bruises beneath the open cuts and scrapes) and tentatively walked closer to the huge machines.

Shaking his head again, Harry spent a good ten minutes adjusting the larger, white, red, and blue robot thing so that the bulky feet and wing-like protrusions on its back no longer stuck out beyond his wards. He was actually surprised he'd been able to move the enormous metal monster with his magic but also thankful that he could since it meant that there was less of a chance of them being found. More than once he wondered what the purpose of the machines were and if they were piloted by people or if they were merely robots that ran on some kind of computer code.

He didn't know enough about technology to figure it out on his own (having lost touch with muggle advancements once he'd started Hogwarts) and after making certain the machines were safe from outside observation, he cast several low powered detection and revealing spells on the two complete devices to find that they were completely empty of life. That of course led to the realization of the possibility that there might be dead people stuck inside of the robots but he quickly shoved that thought out of his mind as he headed into his cave so he could get some rest in order to recover from the large expenditure of magic.

Harry woke up several hours later around sunset when his stomach loudly complained over the fact that he'd not bothered eating anything for breakfast or lunch in all of the commotion and anxiety that the appearance of the robots and his injury had generated. Stiff, sore, and still feeling more than a little exhausted, Harry took a trip down inside of his supply trunk and took a Pepper-Up Potion, a Rejuvenating Potion, a Strengthening Solution, and a Pain Relieving Potion to help ease the pain and exhaustion he felt before he headed into the kitchen area.

The potions were just starting to kick in as Harry dug into yet another trunk to get out everything he would need to make himself a couple of peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches; he would have preferred a hot meal but didn't feel up to putting out the effort to actually making anything. After he choked down the two sandwiches and washed the peanut butter from his mouth with a bottle of water, Harry slipped outside to search for any sign that there was anyone searching for the robots near his cave.

On the way out of the cave, Harry paused to stare at the large machines he'd pulled up onto his beach before he headed towards the northern edge of his wards. As he walked by the slightly smaller of the two intact robots, Harry ran his small fingers along the contours of the green robot's head as he glanced up and studied the strange machine. He shivered at the almost hostile and alien aura the machine gave off as he dropped his hand and moved away from it. Pushing the unease he felt to the back of his mind, Harry stepped up to the edge of his wards (studiously ignoring both the pile of scrap metal and the two robots) and cast a few wide area detection spells before daring to step outside of the safety zone he'd created.

Once he was certain there was no one waiting nearby to ambush him, Harry cautiously moved beyond his wards and approached the tide line as he searched the horizon for any sign of life. After several minutes, he turned towards the north and crept along the path he'd walked earlier when he first found the salvage washed up on the shore; his wand flicking out every few minutes as he constantly recast the detection spells in order to make certain no one could sneak up on him. He'd traveled about a mile away from his cave when the detection spells suddenly indicated that there was a person on the beach and Harry froze as he hadn't actually thought he would find anyone.

Swallowing back his nervousness and uncertainty, Harry crept closer to where the spell indicated the person was and kept his wand at the ready as he let his eyes search the surrounding area for threats. About ten minutes later, Harry finally caught sight of the person his spells had been monitoring and he was a bit surprised and mildly concerned to find him or her laying half in the water. He paused to stare at the individual for several long minutes as he watched for some sign of movement before he hesitantly moved closer. When he was about ten feet away from the person, Harry stopped and studied him or her a second time and couldn't help but be reminded of the day he'd woken up on the beach back when he first arrived as he watched the tide wash over the person repeatedly.

Biting his lip, Harry backed away as he considered just leaving the person to fend for his or herself until his conscience kicked in as the mere possibility that he or she could be injured flittered through Harry's mind. There was also the fact that he or she was pretty much stranded on the same island as Harry and there was no guarantee that he or she would find his or her way off of the island. Sending up a brief prayer that he wasn't making a huge mistake (to whatever gods were listening), Harry slipped even closer; his eyes watching the unmoving figure looking for any hint of movement.

With his stomach twisting up in knots, Harry once more considered fleeing and leaving whoever it was to their own resources. As before, it was his conscience that spurred him ever forward and he wondered why he felt the need to help someone he didn't even know. He guessed that part of it was the loneliness he'd been trying to ignore since he'd first washed up on the beach and another part was the number of times he'd wished someone had helped him when he had been alone and hurting. Sighing heavily, Harry cast another detection spell to confirm that the individual in front of him was the only one in the immediate area before he finally inched closer until he was standing just a few feet away from the figure.

"H…hell…hello…?" Harry called out hesitantly as he crouched down and studied the form intently; taking in the strange brownish colored suit the person was wearing (which looked like a cross between a space suit and a military uniform) and the dark face plate of the helmet that made it difficult to see the person's face clearly.

When there was no response from the person, Harry crab walked closer and poked the figure with his wand, a stunning spell on the tip of his tongue in case whoever it was attacked. When there was still no response, Harry stood up once more and prodded the person with his foot as he wondered what he should do. Leaning down, he shook the person by the arm in the hopes that it would wake him or her up but wasn't really surprised when nothing happened. He was surprised by the feeling of security he felt in the person's aura as he'd half expected the person to feel as hostile as the giant green robot had felt earlier.

"Merlin save me," Harry muttered as he stood back up and pointed his wand at the figure once more. "Because I think I've finally lost what little sanity I had remaining."

So saying, Harry levitated the individual with a swish and flick of his wand (unknowingly shorting out the self destruct device built into the suit) and grabbed hold of one of the straps of the odd pack that was attached to the strange suit he or she was wearing and began guiding the person back towards his cave. The walk back to his cave seemed to take twice as long and left Harry feeling twice as antsy as he couldn't use his wand to cast the detection spells because he was using it to levitate the person he'd found.

By the time he actually made it back to the edge of his wards, the sun had long since set and Harry was feeling as tense as a tightly coiled spring and far more exhausted than he had after summoning the robots and debris. He was also soaked with sweat and shivering as the evening wind chilled his damp shirt. Hoping he wouldn't get sick because of the day's unexpected adventures, Harry pulled the person into his cave and gently canceled the levitation charm once he maneuvered the person over his bed.

"Now what am I supposed to do with you?" Harry asked out loud in a slightly breathless and tired voice as he stood over the bed and stared at the suited individual.

Shaking his head over the absurdity of asking such a question out loud, Harry knelt down on the edge of the bed and spent a few minutes figuring out how to remove the helmet. Once he managed to pull the bulky thing off, Harry was shocked to find that the person he had saved was a young teen that appeared to be a year or two younger than himself (if he didn't take into consideration the strange age reversal he'd gone through at some point before he'd arrived in this world). After staring at the teen for a few minutes, Harry shook off the shock and searched for a way to remove the entire suit. He soon found the zipper hidden beneath the red strip of heavy duty fabric that ran down the front of the suit and spent a good twenty minutes pulling the fairly form fitting suit off of the teen.

"Don't go anywhere," Harry instructed wearily under his breath as he dumped the suit off to one side with the helmet. "If I am to make certain you aren't going to die on me; I'm going to have to dig out one of my healing books. Merlin's beard but you've been making quite a nuisance of yourself since the moment I found you."

He returned a little over twenty minutes later with his nose stuck in the book he'd retrieved only to stop and look up sharply when he heard a loud clicking sound followed by a strange humming whine and found the teen standing beside the bed aiming a pistol at his face. Strangely enough, Harry felt no fear as he stared down the barrel of the gun; only a sense of inevitability as he realized he should have known that this was how things would end. Looking beyond the barrel of the gun; Harry let his eyes meet the blue eyes of the teen he'd pulled from the beach without flinching as he waited for the other kid to say something.

"I will kill you," the teen declared after two minutes of complete silence; his blue eyes hard and unforgiving.

Harry only blinked as he tilted his head to one side, the words stirring up memories of each time Voldemort and a handful of other individuals had uttered similar words to him and after a moment he snorted before replying, "Take a number and get in line, mate, because you definitely aren't the first to promise me death and I seriously doubt you'll be the last."

Harry paused for a moment as the teen's eyes filled with confused shock and lowered his gun a fraction as he stared at Harry in disbelief. Snorting a second time, Harry closed the book he'd been skimming through just a few minutes earlier with a sharp snap; causing the other teen to glance at Harry's hands. Shaking his head, Harry tucked the book under his arm, glanced briefly at the gun again, and lifted his eyes so that he could meet the stranger's eyes once more as he arched an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Harry inquired after a moment when it became apparent that the teen wasn't going to say anything further. "You know, for a bad guy you don't really know what you're doing, do you? Let me give you some advice; first you need a new look, because the whole biker shorts and tank top thing is so not evil overlord or even deranged serial killer material."

"Second, you might want to wear a mask or something because evil is never cute or maybe work on developing a proper evil sneer to make you look a bit more intimidating – though I admit the cold emotionless mask is a good start. I suggest not going down the dark ritual path though because, let me tell you; the no-nose, bald-as-a-baby, with greenish-gray tinged skin look really isn't as scary as it sounds. Although, if you think ugly and evil are synonymous, then I guess it wouldn't matter."

"What the hell are you talking about?" the teen demanded as he lowered the gun even further.

"You obviously need help; I mean if you plan on being evil and threatening every kid you come across, you really should try to at least always look like you know what you're doing," Harry countered as he stepped closer to the teen and grabbed the hand holding the gun and lifted it back up so the gun was now resting against the jagged lightening bolt scar on his forehead.

"First of all, never lower your weapon; most punk kids tend to take advantage of the fact that you are letting your guard down. You should scowl more too; but whatever you do, make certain you practice in front of a mirror because if you do it wrong it just makes you look constipated. Finally, if you find the need to monologue, try to keep it short because the longer you talk the more time your prey has to find a way to escape. I also suggest never giving your evil overlord speech in front of more than two minions; otherwise you'll just embarrass yourself in front of them all when you lose to a kid half your size and it is far easier to replace one or two minions than it is your entire army. Trust me… I've seen it happen."

Harry paused and began tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the teen to react and when nothing happened, Harry sighed and pointedly added, "You know… this is the point where you're supposed to either make your 'I am evil incarnate speech' or pull the trigger."

"Are you fucking nuts or something!?" the teen cried as he flung the gun away and dropped back onto the bed as he stared at Harry in complete shock.

"Not yet… I'm working on that," Harry deadpanned as he glanced down at the book he was holding. "I don't suppose I need to bother with this now. The bathroom is through the door on your left if you wish to clean up." Harry turned to leave only to pause as he glanced back over his shoulder as he added, "You're welcome to stay for a day or two if you need to recover from any injuries you have. If you decide you can't stay for whatever reason; I need to know fairly soon though because I am the only one who can show you the way out and I'm not in the mood to sit around and wait for you to make up your mind because I have things that need to be done."

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**AN:** _Wow. I was amazed at how much attention this story has drawn over the past couple of days. Flattered too since it usually takes a couple of chapters before I see this much interest in one of my stories. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, I will try to reply to them all soon. If I miss replying to you, it's nothing personal, it's just hard to keep track of which reviews I've replied to and which ones I've not replied to. I'd also like to thank everyone who has listed this story on their alerts or favorites list. _

_I hope this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations; it is my favorite chapter out of the story and was actually the first chapter I wrote that kicked off this entire fic. For those of you that were hoping that the scene on the beach would be closer to canon, sorry, I warned you I was going to take this down an alternate path... hence the obvious lack of Relena's presence at the moment as well. Anywho... the next chapter I post will most likely be on Haunted as soon as I finish the edits and formatting. ~ Jenn_

__**09-22-12:** _The prologue was updated with a small correction on the proper wording for the map's password so there is no need to go back and re-read the entire chapter! _


	3. Uncertainty in the Face of Madness

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 2: Uncertainty in the Face of Madness

Heero Yuy, pilot of the Gundam designated as Zero-One, stared at the small boy's back as the child slipped beyond the curtain that made up the entire southern wall of the small room in which he'd woken up. He was confused as hell about what just happened and more than a little uneasy over the boy's reaction to being held at gunpoint. It wasn't just the fact that the kid had shown no fear over having a gun held in his face but the way the kid stood there and watched Heero without saying a word.

When he'd woken up to find himself lying on a strange bed in an unfamiliar room no longer wearing his spacesuit; he'd instinctively reached for the gun he kept at the small of his back. He'd just started to search his immediate surroundings for any threats as well as any clues as to where he was, how he'd gotten there, and who'd partially undressed him when the boy had entered the room with his nose buried in an old book. Aiming the gun at the kid had also been instinctive but the kid hadn't even bothered pulling his eyes from the book until Heero had released the safety and charged the gun.

When he'd first pulled the gun and aimed it at the child he'd fully expected the kid to scream and run or burst into tears and beg for his life. At which point Heero had planned to grab the child and use him as a hostage in order to get some answers; thinking that the boy's parents would come running to see what was happening. Instead, the boy had slowed to a stop and looked up and Heero had thought for certain the boy would grow frightened over the presence of the gun; only when the boy had looked beyond the barrel of the pistol there'd been nothing but calm resignation in those dark emerald eyes.

It had bothered him to continue to aim the gun at the kid; the situation bringing back memories of a young girl and her dog and he'd had to fight to keep his arm steady. The longer the boy had simply stared at him as if waiting for something, the more the situation bothered him and the seemingly knowing look in those green eyes had made Heero feel weak and ashamed. It was the feeling of shame that had driven Heero to harshly declare his intent to kill the kid; hoping the cold words would drive the kid to behave as expected.

What he wasn't expecting was for those eyes to darken slightly before they filled with amusement as the boy flippantly told him to get in line and casually announced that other people had given him death threats. The fact that the boy had then proceeded to ask him what he was waiting for before going on to give him advice on how to be evil and intimidating had been utterly surreal. He was further shocked when the kid actually raised the gun back up to his head and practically ordered Heero to kill him; there was something seriously messed up about an eight year old kid practically asking for death.

"And I thought my life was seriously fucked up," Heero muttered to himself as he ran a hand over his face.

Shaking his head, Heero climbed back to his feet, walked over to where his gun had landed, and leaned down to pick it up off the floor; no sense in leaving it around for the kid to find given how the kid had reacted. Tucking the gun into the waistline of his shorts, he headed into the bathroom where he was immediately confused by the lack of actual plumbing in the room. Sure, technology had vastly improved over the years but you still needed pipes to move the water. Odder yet was the fact that everything appeared to have been carved from rocks; including the toilet.

He stepped up to the basin he thought would function as a sink and noted the two carvings sitting at the back of the top edge of the basin; one done in red and the other in blue. Curious, he reached out to touch the blue one and jumped back in shock as cold water began pouring into the sink from the area just below the lip of the basin right between the two carvings.

"That shouldn't be possible," Heero muttered as he reached out to let the water run over his fingers as he probed the spot where the water was issuing forth. "There's no opening for the water to flow through; so where the hell is the water coming from!?"

He spent another five minutes fiddling with the sink, touching both carvings as he tried to figure out how they worked and how both the hot and cold water ran at a constant temperature no matter how long he left the water running. Eventually, he shoved the confusing matter out of his mind and turned to study the shower which had a similar set up as that of the sink. He was wary of leaving himself vulnerable but figured if whoever had brought him to this strange house really wanted to kill him they would have done it out on the beach instead of dragging him back to their house. And he really wanted to wash away the dried salt, sand, and sweat from his body as his skin was beginning to itch.

Twenty minutes later, Heero was standing in the middle of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist wondering what he was going to wear. He could put his original clothes back on but really didn't want to wear them as they were dirty. Clicking his tongue in exasperation, he picked up his gun and held it at his side as he walked back into the room he'd woken up in with the intention of locating the nearest adult so he could ask to borrow some clothes. He practically jumped out of his skin and nearly shot the kid from earlier when he unexpectedly found the eight year old appearing from out of seemingly no where carrying a pile of clothes and a plate of sandwiches that he set on the bed.

"Damn it, kid, don't you have any sense of self-preservation!?"

"Of course I do," the boy snorted as he glanced disdainfully in Heero's direction. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have bothered dragging myself up out of the water when I first woke up on the beach. Besides, there are things far worse than death. I don't know if these clothes will fit you but they're the best I can do. I also didn't know if you were hungry or what you prefer to eat so if you don't like what I made I won't be offended if you don't eat it. All I ask is that you don't throw it out because my supplies are limited and I'd rather not waste the food."

"Where are your parents?" Heero demanded as the boy turned to leave the room once more.

"Dead."

"Damn," Heero cursed once the boy was gone again, a frown marring his face as he glared down at the clothes and food sitting on the bed.

After several minutes, he reluctantly dropped his gun on the bed and proceeded to get dressed, surprised to find the clothes fit far better than he would have expected based upon the boy's earlier comments. They were also far newer than he would have expected; as if they'd never been worn before but that made no sense unless someone had gone to the store to purchase them just for him. He sat down on the bed and tucked his gun behind the small of his back before he lifted the plate from the tray and tentatively inspected the sandwiches on it. He lifted up one of the sandwiches and pulled it apart in order to check it for poison or drugs but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Taking a small bite of the sandwich, he climbed to his feet and began inspecting the room as he carefully chewed what was in his mouth; waiting to see if there would be any tell-tale tingling from an unknown poison or a feeling of sleepiness from a hidden drug. When nothing happened he continued eating the sandwich as he opened the door to the wardrobe that appeared to have been carved directly out of the rock wall. He pondered on what it could mean that everything seemed to be made from rocks even as he sifted through the items inside the wardrobe. He was a bit disappointed when he found nothing but a couple pairs of shoes, a windbreaker, and a couple of extra pillows in the stand-alone closet as he finished the sandwich and closed the door.

Returning to the bed, Heero grabbed another sandwich and let his eyes wander over the décor once more as he tried to pinpoint exactly what was bothering him. It finally hit him when he realized there was absolutely no technology anywhere in the room; not a single light fixture, no switches or buttons, no computer, no electrical outlets, not even a handheld gaming system – nothing. The room was obviously lived in given the worn comfortableness of the bed and the distinct lack of dust coating anything; so why wasn't there any evidence of even the most basic technologies and where the hell was the light coming from?

The sound of stone scraping against stone had Heero pulling out his gun once more as he jumped up from the bed only to lower the pistol in disbelief as he watched the kid slowly back into the room through the curtain that blocked off one entire wall as he dragged a bed frame made from rock across the floor. The kid's back was currently facing the Gundam pilot and he couldn't help but furrow his brow as he listened to the constant stream of complaints the kid muttered between grunts as he steadily pulled the bed into the room.

"Stupid Sirius; couldn't have sent me to a forest. No, he had to drop me on an island in the middle of nowhere where there isn't even a single damn tree big enough that it could be used to make a bed instead of these stupid rocks. Stupid saving people thing; wouldn't have to worry about a damn second bed if I just would have just ignored my conscience and left the guy on the beach. But no… I just had to be all noble and save a perfect stranger who turns out to be as trigger happy as an irate Voldemort faced with incompetent minions. If I'd known my luck was going to be this bad I never would have crawled out of bed this morning."

Heero slowly put away his gun and had to resist the urge to snort as he called out to the kid, "Would you like a hand with that?"

The boy whirled in place to stare at Heero as if he'd lost his mind before shaking his head as he moved around the bed so that he could watch both Heero and the bed as he started pulling it sideways towards the wall beyond the end of the bed that Heero was currently sitting on. Huffing in exasperation, Heero climbed to his feet and moved to help the boy anyway only to watch the kid freeze in place and stare at him with narrowed, mistrustful eyes. Ignoring the kid's stare, Heero leaned down to place his hands on the bed and gave it a gentle push to get the kid moving again.

The bed was almost to the wall when Heero stopped and waited for the kid to realize he was in the way of the bed while shoving aside the insane urge he felt to pin the boy between the wall and the bed in order to make him hold still long enough to interrogate him. It took the boy nearly a full minute to figure out why Heero stopped and he still hesitated to move; as if he didn't trust Heero not to try and attack him. _Smart kid,_ Heero thought silently as he finished shoving the bed up against the wall once the kid finally moved out of the way.

"Anything else you need help moving?" Heero asked casually as he tucked his hands in his pocket and studied the kid out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't surprised to see the kid shake his head no and begin slowly backing away from Heero. "Stubborn little cuss, aren't you? Can you point me in the direction of your guardian or the nearest adult around here so I could talk to him or her about getting some supplies so I can get out of your hair?"

"There are no adults here, thankfully," the kid replied matter-of-factly as he simply turned and walked away, slipping through the curtain once more.

This time Heero chased through the curtain after the kid intent on securing the little twerp in order to get the answers he needed only to pull up short when he found the tip of what looked like an antique broadsword pressing lightly against his breast bone the moment he cleared the curtain. A sword he hadn't even realized the kid had been carrying on him. He automatically put his hands up to show he was unarmed as he took a step back and gazed at the hard emerald eyes glaring at him from over the two fisted grip on said sword.

"I am not helpless nor am I stupid," the boy hissed. "I don't care who you are or why you ended up on my beach but I'll be damned if you think I'm going to just let you rob me blind. Don't think I can't or won't kill you just because I look like a kid; I've faced men far crueler than a teen with a gun and won."

"I don't steal from children," Heero protested indignantly as he glared down at the younger boy.

"But you do steal," the kid countered flatly.

"Only when I have to; in order to complete a mission or so I can survive."

"Liar," the kid muttered even as he dropped the sword and backed away. "You steal whenever it suits you and I seriously doubt that it really matters who you steal from."

"Look kid, I just want some answers and enough food and water to make it to the nearest town. Barring that, I'd be satisfied with access to a computer so I can make arrangements for a place to stay."

"The food and water I can do," the kid replied as he slid the sword through the belt he was wearing so that it hung at his side. "Don't know what you'd expect to do with a computer though; not that it matters since I don't even own a computer and in case you didn't notice I'm a little short on electricity."

"Why aren't there any adults here? Where did they go? How is it you don't have any electricity? Where the hell are we anyway? Who brought me here if there aren't any adults around? And just who the hell are you?" Heero demanded as he dropped his arms and tried to appear intimidating as he could without drawing his gun again.

"I don't have to answer you."

Heero growled and darted forward, intending on tackling the smart mouthed little brat only to suddenly find himself dangling upside down several feet off the floor. Twisting around he tried to figure out how he was being held up but couldn't see any ropes or cables so he turned his attention back to the annoying little twit and soon found him standing just out of reach with his arms crossed. Heero then reached back to grab his gun only to slowly bring his arms forward once more when he didn't find it. He then watched as the kid glanced down at the floor and Heero followed his eyes to see his pistol sitting on the floor directly below him and just out of reach of his hands. He opened his mouth so he could yell at the kid, only to find he was unable to make a sound.

"I'd thank my godfather for teaching me that handy trick if I knew how to find him. Of course, if I knew how to do that I wouldn't have been stuck here all alone for nearly two years. I hope you don't mind hanging around for a while but I have a few things I want to do before I go to bed for the night. If, when I'm finished, you think you might be able to control yourself; I will consider letting you down."

Heero watched the kid walk away and felt the urge to scream before he returned to figuring out how to get out of the trap he'd gotten caught in. About twenty minutes later, he heard a series of explosions raining down from somewhere nearby and he renewed his efforts of escaping as he feared that the Alliance or OZ had discovered his presence. He was more than a little shocked when the explosions lasted for well over three hours (though they'd slowed down in frequency after the first hour) before silence descended upon the room once more. He swung around searching for any sign of the enemy coming for him only to have his eyes fall on the eight year old boy as the kid staggered into the room covered from head to foot in dust and blood from where he'd been cut on the hands and face and once again muttering to himself.

"Bloody hell; why did the damn things have to be so damn big? Someone somewhere sure has a massive inferiority complex; that's for sure. And here I thought ole Tommy boy had some serious issues. I suppose I could just leave them where they are but the damned things are practically blocking my cave. I could also just throw them back from where I got them but there's always the chance that they will be found anyway and if that happens I'm screwed. I need to find something with a bit more power because the blasting just isn't working and barely does any real damage. _Damn it all to hell; why did you have to send me away, Sirius!?_"

Heero watched the kid walk right passed him close enough to reach out and touch him without seeing him but all thoughts of trying grab the kid to get his attention flew out the window as the palpable grief in that final whispered sentence blindsided him. Not for the first time, Heero wondered if the boy had mental issues as he twisted around so he could watch the boy disappear in the direction he knew led to the bedroom he'd woken up in earlier.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, Heero didn't notice the passage of time until he heard the soft sound of bare feet padding across the stone floor. Looking up, he saw the boy walking towards him once more; his black hair still damp indicating that he'd gone to take a shower. He was a little surprised when the boy stopped just a few feet away from him and calmly met his gaze as he'd thought the kid had actually forgotten about him.

"Can I trust you to leave me alone or do I have to leave you hanging there all night?"

"I promise I will not attack you while you sleep," Heero swore through gritted teeth, somewhat surprised to find whatever had prevented him from talking earlier had worn off at some point without his knowledge.

"Hnn… not very reassuring but I suppose it's the best I'm going to get at this point," the boy muttered with a frown as he turned around and walked back through the curtain.

Heero opened his mouth to call the boy back in order to make him let him down only to find himself crashing down to the ground before he could form the words. Cursing, Heero reached up and cradled his head as he blinked away the stars that had filled his vision when he'd smacked his head on the floor. Once the pain subsided he began thinking up a hundred different ways to torture the damn kid for both humiliating him and managing to catch him off guard. He then sighed and shoved the murderous thoughts out of his mind as he recalled his promise not to attack the kid in his sleep.

Resigned to putting up with the madness for the night, Heero picked up the gun the kid had left on the floor before following the boy back to the bedroom and found the lights dimmed low and the kid curled up in the newer bed. Unable to help himself, Heero slowed to a stop and stared at the kid for nearly fifteen minutes; watching the boy shift beneath the blankets for several minutes in order to get comfortable. He considered taking advantage of the fact that the kid had apparently let his guard down only to recall both his promise and the sword the kid had had on him earlier. Sighing in frustration, Heero headed over to the bed he'd woken up on earlier, pulled down the covers, and crawled into the bed as he realized just how tired he felt. He made himself stay awake just long enough to hear the kid's breathing deepen; indicating the boy had finally fallen asleep before he joined the boy in dreamland.

The rebel pilot was torn from his dreams some four or five hours later by a piercing scream. Jumping out of his bed, Heero pulled out his gun and searched the shadows for the source of the disturbance as he shook off the lingering haze of sleep. A series of pain filled moans coming from behind him had Heero spinning around just as the moans became a frantic cry.

"No! Not Cedric! Muum! Daad! Ahhh…!"

Heero's eyes soon fell on the bed where the eight year old had fallen asleep earlier and he lowered his gun as the realization that the kid was having a nightmare sank in. He took a couple of steps in the direction of the bed intent on trying to wake the kid up only to freeze when the boy sat up, leaned over the side of the bed, and vomited onto the floor. Heero watched as the kid's shoulders shook as he sobbed and he felt more than a little uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hey, you alright kid?" Heero asked after a few minutes when it became obvious the kid wasn't calming down.

"What do you care?" the kid barked out in a raspy voice without bothering to look up. "And stop calling me kid, damn it."

"What the hell else am I supposed to call you? It's not like you bothered introducing yourself."

"Says the pot calling the kettle black."

Heero couldn't help the soft snort of amusement he let out at that since it was true and after another few minutes spent studying the kid he introduced himself (silently hoping the kid would do the same), "My name is Heero, Heero Yuy."

"Heero…? Almost sounds like hero… an entire world once called me hero as if I'd done something special because I managed to survive where no one else had before because of something my mother probably did to save me. Best to ignore the mindless sheep no matter what they call you or what you've done because they will turn on you in heartbeat the moment you do something they don't like. They are like parasites… leeches that pretend to care about you as they bleed you dry until the moment you have nothing left to give and the next thing you know they are calling you an attention seeking liar and praying you'll die slowly and painfully as quick as possible. Ungrateful the lot of them… bloody useless scavengers that only dare attack from the shadows when they think you're weak."

"You're awful cynical for an eight year old runt," Heero declared with a snort.

"Go piss up a rope without a raincoat, you bloody wanker," the kid growled vehemently as he shifted just enough to glare up at Heero. "Not my fault I'm short… was bad enough when I actually was eight; even worse now that I'm sixteen, almost seventeen. If I ever get my hands on Padfoot, I'm gonna kick his ass for making me even shorter."

"Pull the other one, brat, you can't be a day over nine and even that is pushing it."

"Ha! Shows what you know. I was fourteen nearly fifteen when I ended up on this wretched island nearly two years ago and I may have stopped attending grade school when I was eleven but even I know that fifteen plus two equals seventeen. I'm also fully aware that the current year is nineteen ninety-seven and ninety-seven minus eighty (which is the year I was born) is seventeen as well."

"You must have hit your head pretty hard at some point, kid, because you've got your years all mixed up as the current year is one-ninety-five after colony."

"After colony? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You live under a rock or something? Everyone knows the new dating system began when the permanent space stations were finally deemed habitable and a large percentage of the Earth's population colonized them in short order due to severe overcrowding here on Earth."

"In case you didn't notice, I am living under a rock," the kid bit out sarcastically as he gestured around the room with one hand before he bit his lip and leaned forward to peer at Heero in confusion. "There are people living in space? How the hell are there people living out in space? How is that even possible? I… am I even on a planet then? I had thought I was on Earth because everything felt so familiar even if the stars were all mixed up; though Sirius did say he didn't know where I would end up. Where the hell did you send me to, Sirius!? Oh god… what if I… what if everything I did… what if whatever is making this place work fails because I…"

"Calm down, kid," Heero urged as he watched the kid's face grow paler in the dark room. "You're still on Earth if that's what you're worried about. Although I have no idea how you could possibly not have known about the colonies; they have been there for nearly two hundred years after all."

"People living in space, giant robots falling from the sky, and murderous teens washing up on the beach; what next!? Merlin and to think I thought dragons were going to be the death of me. Maybe if I go back to sleep there is still a chance I will wake up and find out this has all been nothing but a terrible nightmare. I knew I should have never wished on that stupid star this morning… but no… I just had to tempt fate. Damn it, Sirius, if I ever find my way home I'm going to curse you from Hogsmeade to Surrey and back again or better yet, feed Padfoot to Fluffy."

Heero shook his head as the kid stopped making any sense, "You've got some serious issues, kid."

"That's because it's all Sirius's fault," the kid muttered petulantly as he curled up under the blanket and hid his face from Heero. "And I told you to stop calling me kid, damn it! My name is Harry."

Dropping back down on the bed he'd been borrowing, Heero stared at the quivering lump that he knew was the kid as he went over everything he had learned during the decidedly strange conversation. He'd heard the kid, Harry, speak enough times now to narrow the accent down to one of three nationalities; English, Canadian, or Australian. He couldn't be certain which one it was since he hadn't studied the accents of the various regions on Earth all that closely.

He'd need access to a computer to look up the places the kid mentioned to know for certain. He was pretty certain that Harry was suffering from some sort of head injury or mental illness because of his insistence that he was nearly seventeen years old when the kid's obvious physical appearance said otherwise. He was also either extremely clueless or a very good actor as he'd appeared genuinely shocked, and more than a little skeptical, at hearing there were people living in space; which made absolutely no sense.

Heero was half dozing when his brain finally registered the fact that the kid had mentioned giant robots falling from the sky and he bolted upright and reached for his gun as he finally connected the 'robots' with his Mobile Gundam and the Alliance Leo that had crashed into the ocean. Something made him hesitate as he stared at the child he knew had fallen back to sleep once more; he couldn't help but feel that the child was no threat to him or his mission and it bothered him because there were no facts upon which to base such assumptions.

Doctor J had always told him he had an uncanny ability to judge people with just a glance but Heero had always scoffed at the notion; firmly believing that the true ability came from having learned how to read the people around him through their body language. With Harry though, the kid was a walking contradiction; he talked and carried himself as if he was much older than he appeared and changed his emotions and thoughts as easily as one flipped a switch (exuding calm confidence when faced with danger and radiating uncertainty and inexperience an instant later).

He was also quite strong despite how fragile he looked, given how the kid had moved the rock bed all by himself (completely unaware that Harry had used his magic to temporarily make the bed lighter) until Heero had stepped in to help. The kid was also very untrusting and seemingly unused to the presence of other people. Settling back against the stone wall behind him, Heero mentally snorted at the earlier sarcastic comment Harry had made about actually living beneath a rock as he felt the cold from the stone seeping through his borrowed shirt.

Heero ended up watching Harry's small form toss and turn for the rest of the night. As he watched the child (because he was, despite his assertion to the contrary, most assuredly a child); he continued to analyze everything he'd learned from the kid and compared them to the observations he'd made during the short time he'd spent in the presence of the kid.

* * *

**AN:** _Poor Heero… I couldn't resist tormenting him a bit here since he doesn't seem to have a sense of humor in the series; making him fight against any amusement he feels. And yes, I know Heero is an expert in hand to hand combat and probably could have easily overpowered Harry but at this time Heero still thinks Harry is just an innocent (if disturbed) kid. Most of this chapter was meant to portray Harry as more than a little mentally unbalanced (and who would blame him after everything he'd been through during his fourth year before being thrown from everything he knows and trapped on an island alone for two years?). _

_The next chapter will have a bit more background on Harry's situation and should be up in a couple of days. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the earlier chapters and eve4ryone who put this story or my author's page on their alert/favorites list. You guys all rock! ~ Jenn_


	4. The Complicated Art of Spying

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter has a few brief mentions of implied rape (no details)._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 3: The Complicated Art of Spying

The moment Heero noticed that Harry was slowly waking up, he tucked his chin against his chest, regulated his breathing, and dropped his eyelids down so it appeared that he was sleeping sitting up against the wall. Through the thin crack between his eyelids, Heero watched as Harry slowly uncurled from beneath the covers and stretched; noting the way the kid flinched and hissed as if the act of stretching had aggravated an injury. Mentally frowning, he watched the kid twist awkwardly around to stare nervously in his direction before crawling out of the bed and creeping stiffly closer to where Heero was seated. Tensing his muscles, Heero waited to see if the kid was going to attack him only to see the kid open a trunk and climb inside.

Heero barely resisted the urge to learn forward in order to see what the kid was doing, which turned out to be a good thing since the kid reappeared not two minutes later carrying a bundle of clothes, a jar of cream, and a roll of gauze. Only long years of practice and strict discipline prevented Heero from frowning or opening his eyes as he continued to monitor the child. That was a good thing too; since Harry spent at least a good five minutes watching him at that point as if to make certain he wasn't going to wake up any time soon.

The kid then gingerly crossed the room and disappeared into the bathroom; each step the kid took spoke loudly of pain the he must have been feeling though not a single sound passed through the Harry's lips. Heero allowed a frown to curl his lips downward as he listened to the muttered curses floating back into the room as the boy did whatever it was he was doing before the sound of running water cut off his words. The thing that troubled Heero the most about discovering his pint-sized host was wounded, was the fact that until he'd woken up that morning, Harry had shown no signs of being injured.

Logically, that meant one of three things; the kid had a very high pain tolerance, had some damn good pain meds, or had actually been injured sometime during the night. Heero was certain he could rule out the last one due to the fact that he'd seen no evidence of the kid being injured when he'd woken up from his nightmare the night before. The blue eyed pilot wasn't certain which of the first two possibilities bothered him more since many pain medications could be harmful to young children in even small doses and a high pain tolerance generally meant frequent and/or prolonged exposure to pain.

Fifteen minutes later, the boy walked confidently out of the bathroom; all traces of his earlier pain gone. As he crossed the room, Harry intently watched Heero with those cynical green eyes. The kid actually slowed to a stop when he pulled even with Heero and stood there staring at him for several long minutes before he gave a soft snort, shook his head, and continued on his way to the other bed. Heero scowled for a split second as he tried to figure out what just happened but quickly cleared his face when the kid snapped his head around to glance in his direction.

Once satisfied with whatever it was he was looking for, Harry turned away again and began making his bed. It was readily apparent to Heero that it was a task the kid had done often as it only took a few minutes for the kid to straighten the covers. After finishing with the bed, the kid began cleaning up the rest of the room; frequently casting glances in his direction before angling his body as if to hide whatever it was he was doing before disappearing into the bathroom a second time. It was puzzling behavior and Heero couldn't tell if it was because the kid somehow knew he was awake or if he just feared he'd wake up any minute.

Another oddity cropped up when Harry came back out of the bathroom carrying both the clothes he'd slept in and Heero's original clothes he'd worn beneath his spacesuit; both sets of clothes obviously clean though that should have been impossible. Harry nervously dropped Heero's clothes on the bed, tossed his own into the stone wardrobe, and then slipped through the curtain separating the sleeping area from the larger room.

Heero waited another ten minutes before he acted like he was just waking up, yawning and stretching as he rubbed at his eyes and worked out the non-existent kinks in his neck. He then grabbed his clean clothes and headed into the bathroom to take his own shower. When he walked back into the bedroom just a few minutes later, Heero half expected Harry to have delivered a plate of food as he had the day before but was actually pleased that he hadn't since that gave him the perfect excuse to go exploring.

He spent a moment glancing about the room he'd spent the night in (to make certain he hadn't missed anything the first time he searched the room) before he slipped through the curtain blocking off the bedroom. Unlike the first time he'd been in the slightly larger room, Heero took a moment to take in the details of the room. Like the bedroom and bathroom, the room's walls, floor, and ceiling were made of stone and was sparsely furnished with stone furniture.

A waist high (to an eight year old) counter and sink sat against the western wall beside which sat a second trunk that appeared identical to the one in the bedroom. Sitting on top of the sink was a large bowl filled with an assortment of fresh fruit, a cutting board, and a butcher's knife. A rather modest sized table and a single chair sat just a few feet away from the counter. The entire arrangement gave that part of the room the appearance of a kitchen slash dining area.

Centered on the southern wall there was a child-sized stone desk, a second chair, and yet another trunk that looked exactly like the first two. Just to the left of the desk was a pair of stone couches situated in such a way that they partially blocked off the area and gave the impression of an office area or a den. The curtain that blocked off the hidden bedroom and bathroom niche took up about half of the northern wall while the eastern wall appeared to be completely bare.

There were a couple of things bothering Heero about the entire set up though and it took him a moment to realize what they were; first was the fact that the entire house was very sparsely furnished (something along the lines of a bachelor pad rather than a family dwelling) and more importantly there was no exit. Turning about in a full circle, Heero searched the walls again but still found no evidence of a door; meaning the actual exit was well hidden or there was some secret method of entering and exiting the house.

Heero refused to allow himself to panic; he clearly recalled Harry telling him that if he wished to leave all he had to do was tell the boy and he would be shown the way out. He was just pondering the connotations of the scarcity of the furniture when the sound of a child's voice drew Heero's attention back to the study area where he suddenly found Harry standing beside the third trunk muttering to himself as he flipped between the pages of a book he was holding.

"_Deprimo_ sounds like it would be far stronger than _Confringo_ but _Defodio_ is meant to gouge which means it would actually bore a hole through the stone instead of blow it up. The only problem is that both _Deprimo_ and _Defodio_ require far more power which means I will only be exhausting myself further at this point unless I wait a couple of days first. I don't like the idea of just leaving them out in plain sight though because they stick out like a sore thumb; wards or no wards. I suppose I could try making them smaller first but there's no guarantee that will work because of how big the stupid things are."

"Is there something I can do to help you with whatever it is you are trying to do?"

Harry yelped as he dropped the book and spun around to face Heero while clutching his heart and Heero couldn't resist smirking at the younger boy. The smirk then grew larger as the kid glared at him before bending down to pick up the book he'd dropped as he muttered dire threats and promises beneath his breath that Heero knew for certain he was not meant to hear.

"I apologize for startling you," Heero stated, the amusement in his blue eyes giving away the little white lie as Harry's glare turned darker, revealing that the kid was well aware Heero was being insincere. "I couldn't help but overhear your concerns and I would not mind helping you in order to repay you for saving me from possible death or worse a trip to the hospital."

To Heero's surprise Harry began snickering about the hospital comment as he clutched his stomach and barked out the words Hermione, death, and expelled. Five minutes later, the laughter cut off just as abruptly as it started and the kid sighed as a pained expression crept across his face as he shook his head and pressed both hands to his face for several minutes, his shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs that Heero could just barely make out. Heero was curious as to what could have generated such a reaction from the kid but didn't have much time to think contemplate that thought as the kid stiffened suddenly and glanced back up at him with shadowed green eyes.

"Sorry," Harry hoarsely apologized (to Heero's surprise and slight confusion), his entire demeanor submissive and embarrassed. "I didn't mean to be so rude; I'm not really used to company, you see, and I completely forgot you were here. I hope I didn't offend you."

"No offense taken," Heero automatically replied; watching Harry like a hawk as the boy shuffled the book he held back and forth in his hands. When the kid said nothing further he pointedly stated, "You never did answer my question."

"Your offer was appreciated but unnecessary as there is nothing you can do to help me," Harry replied absently as he opened the book and nervously flipped through the pages without taking his eyes off of Heero. "Please help yourself to some of the fresh fruit sitting on the counter, if you are hungry. I should be back around lunch time; at which time I can show you the way out if you wish to leave."

"Ah… are you certain I can't go with you and give you a hand?"

"Quite certain; as you would only be in my way and you would most likely end up getting hurt or possibly killed by falling debris. Don't worry; I am more than capable of handling the not quite small project I am working on. I know I don't have much of anything for you to do but feel free to make yourself at home."

To Heero's shock the boy simply disappeared once more; seemingly melting through the stone of the eastern wall. After a minute, he shook himself out of his stupor and muttered a frustrated, "Damn kid has to be the most annoying person I have ever encountered."

Growling, Heero stalked over to the kitchen counter and plucked a couple random pieces of fruit out the bowl as he frowned over the mysterious behavior of the small child he was currently staying with. Two minutes later, the cave shook beneath what felt like a huge explosion followed by a series of smaller explosions that somehow seemed more forceful than the first. The knowledge that the kid was the one creating the explosions, if what he'd been muttering about before he left the room was to be believed, meant that this would be the perfect time for Heero to do some snooping to find out what he could learn about the kid.

First, he spent a good fifteen to twenty minutes searching along the east wall for the exit, only to grow frustrated when he couldn't even find a hidden seam to indicate the presence of a secret door. He turned his attention to the trunks next, since the kid was always climbing inside of them, only to discover that they had some kind of advanced security system installed on them because nothing he tried allowed him to unlock the blasted things let alone pick one up to inspect the bottom side. His next target was the desk and he half expected to run into the same problem only to find himself more than a little shocked when he discovered it was not similarly protected.

Digging through the mostly empty desk turned up nothing but an oversized wooden cigar box that Heero took out and set on top of the desk. Inside he found what appeared to be a bunch of weird toys (including a detailed model motorcycle), a few rather small handwritten journals, a bunch of carved sticks, a pair of rings, two sets of tiny keys, a miniature version of the trunks sitting about the cave, and a rather thick folder that was no bigger than the inside of the box. Dismissing most of the things inside of the box as useless junk, Heero lifted out the folder and opened it to find a well worn envelope addressed to someone named Harry (which Heero assumed to be his child-host) sitting on top of a bunch of thick papers.

Contemplating his find for a moment, Heero glanced in the direction of the eastern wall as he tried to determine just how much time he had. The slow and steady barrage of constant explosions reassured him that he was in no danger of being discovered anytime soon and Heero pulled the envelope open, removed the letter contained inside, and settled himself on the edge of the desk as he unfolded the letter and began reading.

_Hey Pup, _

_By the time you read this, you will no longer be in Hogwarts and I will most likely  
be dead. I am sorry that there wasn't enough time to properly prepare you for your  
journey or answer the questions I know you must have. I wish there had been  
another way but time has been working against me since the moment I came back  
in order to save you. There is so much you need to know. _

_Before you read any further though, I need you to take the three potions I left in the  
box this letter was attached to; red first, then green, and finally the yellow one. It  
will only take a few minutes for them to kick in and they should help you deal with  
the pain I am pretty certain you are still feeling. Trust me on this, Pup. Did you take  
them yet? I really hope so as they will help you. I guess that means I owe you an  
explanation now._

_To start with, Pup; Dumbledore is not the kind old grandfather that he likes to  
portray himself as and he has been meddling in your life, and the lives of many  
others, since before you were born; since before your grandfather was born  
actually. Every negative experience you've had throughout your life was instigated  
and encouraged by the old goat. _

_If you feel the need to know exactly what he did, you can read through the three  
journals that I nicked from him and included in the box this letter was attached to. I  
don't have the time to explain everything here and there are more important things  
you need to know. I'll warn you now; you won't like what you find in his journals._

_Next, the pain you were feeling earlier was the result of the magical purgative I fed  
you before I sent you on your way. The potion will have striped your body and magic  
of the various spells and blocks that had been placed upon you by Dumbledore or  
one of his agents throughout your lifetime. _

_It will have also unblocked a number of memories that had been hidden from you  
through the years. Sadly, one can't pick and choose the memories that are restored;  
which means that you no doubt remember all of the terrible things Snivellus did to  
you and the humiliating things that he forced you to do during the countless  
detentions he assigned to you during the past four years. _

_I'm sorry, Pup, I'd have left those particular memories dead and buried if I could._

Heero turned a bit green as he considered the implications of the last couple of sentences while he wondered what the old man mentioned in the letter had done. He was also more than a little confused since several parts of the letter appeared to be written in some sort of code; parts that made absolutely no sense. Swallowing the bile he felt rising in the back of his throat, Heero checked to make certain the explosions still continued before he dove back into the letter.

_The second thing you need to know is that I tried to gather everything you'd ever  
need to survive on your own because I have no idea where you will end up and only  
hope it will be enough. Additionally, I packed up all of your personal belongings  
from your dorm room. You will find everything in the box that was with this letter. _

_Unfortunately, I couldn't send Hedwig with you because she would not have survived  
the trip; I made certain she'll be taken care of for the rest of her life though. _

_Damn it, Pup, there are a hundred other things I need and want to tell you but I just  
don't have the time. I left you all of my memories, minus the twelve years I spent in  
Azkaban, so you can not only get to know your parents but learn the rest of what I  
needed to tell you. I also left you my personal grimoire, the Marauder's grimoire that  
your father, Remus, the Traitor, and I wrote while at Hogwarts, and the grimoire your  
parents began putting together shortly after they married (unfinished though it is)._

_There are only three more things I can to tell you right now. First, I'm sending you to  
a different world where you will at least have a chance to live your life free from the  
corruption that plagues this world. Second, you're the son I never had and I only wish  
I could have been there when you needed me most so that I could have spared you all  
the needless pain you've experienced over the past thirteen years._

_And finally, live, Harry, and live well. Don't dwell on the past and don't let the terrible  
things you've seen and done destroy the wonderful person I know you are. None of the  
things you were forced to do were your fault, so please don't blame yourself for them. I  
know it will be difficult to move past all of that but I left you with enough distractions  
that you should at least be able to find something else to occupy your mind with. If that  
doesn't work try howling at the moon or find someone to talk to._

_I am proud of you, Harry, and I will never forget you. _

_Sirius Black  
The Father Dog and Marauder of the Padded Foot  
Long live the son of the Mighty Prongs and his Gilded Lily Flower_

_P.S. For the instructions to access the trunks; you'll need to use the password again as  
you press your wand to the spot directly below this note._

Heero frowned as he finished the letter and carefully folded it back up before returning it to the envelope and placing it the folder where he'd found it. He then glanced at a few of the other papers inside the folder and quickly realized that they were medical reports. He skimmed through them and found himself mildly shocked at the sheer number of injuries the kid had suffered through over what appeared to be a period of four years and disgusted over the confirmation that one of the kid's teacher's had repeatedly forced himself on the kid. There were also several more confusing references to some sort of core, spells, potions, and something called unforgivables.

Heero carefully placed everything back into the order in which he found it and tucked everything back into the file. He then shifted through the handwritten journals, pulled out one of the ones labeled as A. Dumbledore, and began skimming through the pages. Some three hours later, Heero numbly replaced the third Dumbledore Journal back into the box and set the box back inside the drawer where he'd originally found it.

The journals had answered a few questions that the original letter had raised, inspired a hundred new questions, and left Heero unbalanced and feeling more than a little dirty. Wandering away from the desk as he listened to the continued sound of destruction coming from somewhere nearby, Heero absently bit into the fruit he'd picked up earlier and choked the food down even though it tasted like ash in his mouth. Time and time again he found his eyes being drawn back to the desk where the box was practically taunting him from its place inside of the bottom drawer.

"You need to pull yourself together, Heero," the young pilot muttered as he tossed out the pit of the peach he'd just finished. "You are here to destroy OZ; not look after some troubled kid with a horrible past. Dr. J is counting on me to do my job and the first thing I need to do is destroy the Gundam so it doesn't fall into enemy hands. When everything is over, if I live; I can always come back and find the kid. Or better yet I can knock him unconscious, take him with me, and drop him off at the first orphanage I find so he can be properly cared for."

The continued blasts shaking the cavern mocked Heero as he knew the kid would never allow himself to be caught off guard so easily. Even if he did manage it the kid would probably run the first chance he got. Maybe he could talk the kid into going along willingly…? _No, I doubt he'd be willing to do that given how independent he appears. Not to mention the fact that he would easily attract the attention of OZ with his attitude and the apparent skills he has; which means I'd be forced to face him at some point,_ Heero acknowledged as he began stretching out his stiff muscles_. _

He spent the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon doing push ups and sit ups in order to keep his body occupied and in optimum condition while allowing his mind to contemplate the situation with the kid. If only he had some way of contacting Dr. J, the wily old scientist would surely know someone trustworthy who could keep an eye on the kid. The sudden cessation of the constant explosions drew Heero out of his thoughts and he glanced down at his watch to find that it was well after two in the afternoon.

Climbing to his feet, he wiped the sweat from his face with the towel he taken from the bathroom and turned to face the east wall where he expected his diminutive host to reappear from since that was the direction in which he disappeared earlier. When the kid finally did reappear some thirty minutes later, he looked like death warmed over as he staggered into the cave and moved passed Heero without even glancing in his direction. Heero followed him out of mild concern and watched as the dust and blood covered kid disappeared into the bathroom.

When he came out ten minutes later he was far cleaner but still walking like the living dead as he shuffled over to the trunk sitting at the foot of the bed Heero had sat on all night. The kid lifted the lid without any of the trouble Heero had run into and climbed down inside. Leaning against the wall beside the curtain, Heero waited for the kid to come out, curious as to what he could possibly be doing inside of the trunk. He was more than a little shocked when the kid climbed back out just a few minutes later and no longer moved as if he'd gone three days straight without sleep or looked so gray.

"Drugs aren't the answer you know," Heero couldn't help remarking as he crossed his arms and leveled a glare at the kid in front of him.

"Don't you know it's rude to spy on your host?" Harry countered in reply as he brushed by the taller teen without another word.

"You wouldn't need the drugs if you allowed others to help you instead of driving yourself into the ground."

"First of all, I am not taking drugs. Second of all, it'd be none of your business if I was. Third, I don't need or want any help; not that there is anyone here who could help me anyway. And fourth, you don't know anything about me; so do me a favor and keep your unsolicited advice and comments to yourself. I have far more important things to do than listen to you tell me how to take care of myself; something, I might add, that I've been doing since I was four years old."

"And you appear to be doing such a wonderful job of it," Heero sneered sarcastically as he turned to follow the kid. "A supposed seventeen year old who looks no more than eight years old? Either you are lying about your age or you've been barely getting by. You'd be better off seeking shelter with the church or turning yourself back into the orphanage so they can properly take care of you."

"Yeah… that sounds like a smart thing to do… give up my freedom in exchange for some other manipulative bastard to steal everything I have and brainwash me into doing their dirty work so they can look good. Sorry, I think I'm going to have to pass," Harry coldly spat back as he spun around and glared at Heero. "Been there, done that, and have a dozen commemorative robes to prove it. Or at least I did until I torched them two weeks after I moved into my cave."

"Not all adults are like that," Heero tried to assure the child.

"You're right; there are many that are far worse. There are those that practically starve you, lock you in tiny dark cupboards, force you to cater to their every whim, and cut you down with a million hurtful words every time they open their mouths. Then there are those violate your privacy, your memories, and your body without so much as a by-your-leave as they go about turning you into a sacrificial lamb for the slaughter."

"Those aren't the only…"

"I'm well aware that there are others that act as if they care for you, present you with gifts bought with the money they stole from your dead parents, and smile at your face while they laugh at you behind your back and plot your death. Then there are those that claim they care for you, that they only want the best for you, and in the end they just want to be rid of you; so they drop you in the middle of nowhere and tell you to be happy and find a life. Anyone else who might possibly be trustworthy and who might actually give a damn is already dead; so do yourself a favor and don't waste your breath. I'm not leaving, I don't need anyone, and I don't care what else is out there. All I want is to be left alone in peace until death puts me out of my misery."

"Why not strap a bomb to your chest and speed up the process?" Heero snidely demanded as he grew frustrated with Harry's cynicism; conveniently forgetting that his spacesuit had just such a device built into it that he would have willingly set off if the need arose.

"Oh, yeah, that's really brilliant advice from the peanut gallery. You really should make up your mind on if you're going to portray the falsely concerned citizen or the evil overlord in the making; because switching between the two only makes you look like an even bigger idiot."

"How about I knock you unconscious and ship you off to the nearest mental institution instead since you are so obviously mentally unbalanced?"

"Was that supposed to be some kind of threat? Quite a step down from the cold 'I will kill you' you offered up last night, don't ya think? What's next? Are you going to offer to be my nanny and promise to protect me from the big bad world?" Harry shot back caustically. "Merlin; and you call me unhinged? You know what; I think it's time for you to leave."

Heero watched the kid head down into the trunk in the kitchen and disappear inside of it before reappearing carrying a canvas bag filled with what looked like food in one hand. The kid shoved the bag into Heero's arms as he walked passed him to gather up the clothes the pilot had worn the night before, which had been cleaned at one point (though Heero had no idea how or when), and Heero's space suit (also now clean) and shoved both into Heero's arms as well.

"I don't have all day," Harry barked as he stopped beside the eastern wall and crossed his arms as he glared at Heero and tapped his foot impatiently.

"Who said I was leaving?"

"I did… you've overstayed your welcome."

"And if I choose not to leave?"

"You won't like the results," Harry snapped back without any hesitation as he fingered the hilt of the sword that was once again shoved through his belt though it hadn't been there just five minutes earlier.

"I guess I have no choice but to comply," Heero muttered with barely suppressed irritation at how quickly everything had gotten out of hand. "Do you at least have something I can put my things in so they are a little easier to carry?"

The kid huffed and glared before he stalked back into the bedroom area. He was gone for nearly twenty minutes this time and returned carrying a rather ugly looking backpack that he threw at Heero even as he stated, "This is all I got that I'm willing to part with."

Heero grunted as he caught the bag and packed everything the kid had shoved at him into the bag. Five minutes later, Heero was wearing a blindfold over his eyes as Harry led him out of the cave by pulling on his shirt; the younger boy taking care not to actually touch Heero. The entire trip seemed to be over in an instant; one second he was standing inside the somewhat cool interior of the cave and the next he was standing outside breathing in the salty ocean air and feeling the gentle heat of the sun beating down on him. There was a brief moment in between when he thought he felt a familiar tingle run across his skin (not unlike the feeling that he got each time he sat in the cockpit of his Gundam) but it was gone as quick as it appeared and he couldn't be certain he'd felt what he thought he had.

"You can take the blindfold off now," Harry instructed as he dropped Heero's shirt as if it had suddenly caught fire. "I doubt you'll have any problems finding your way off the island from here."

Heero removed the annoying scrap of fabric and blinked his eyes in the sudden brightness of the afternoon sun as he stared out at a seemingly endless stretch of beach in front of him. He then turned around to see where the kid had gone only to freeze as his eyes swept over the large pile of scrap metal sitting on the beach near the cliff before landing on two very familiar mobile suits carelessly sprawled on the sand. The instant he recognized his Gundam, his ears began ringing and he saw red as he dropped the bag of supplies, pulled out his gun, and charged at the boy who'd stupidly turned his back on him.

* * *

**AN:** _This chapter was a bit harder to get right and there are a couple of sections that I'm certain could use a bit of tweaking but overall it is much better than it was originally. I must have rewritten Sirius's letter to Harry at least two dozen times before I was happy with it. _

_Some of you may have given Sirius's signature at the end of the letter a strange look but everyone uses dogfather in place of godfather so I wanted to do something a bit different; hence the use of Father Dog (something I can't recall anyone else ever using before - at least not in any story that I've read) and the intentional tweaking of Padfoot. The nick names for Harry's parents are, unfortunately, no where near original but I'd used up all of my creativity in other places and couldn't think of anything better. _

_Anywho, the next chapter will focus on wrapping things up between Heero and Harry before we take a look at what is happening with the other pilots. Expect to see the next update in two or three days when I post the next chapter of Haunted. ~ Jenn_


	5. A Tentative Truce without Trust

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter contains mild to moderate violence and some bloodshed for those who are squeamish._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 4: A Tentative Truce without Trust

Exhausted because of how much he'd been pushing himself the last two days, in pain due to the fact that he hadn't tended his wounds since that morning because he hadn't wanted Heero to know he was injured (not aware that the teen already knew about them), and irritated over the most recent confrontation; Harry had stopped paying attention to his unwanted and unwelcomed guest the moment he'd let go of the teen and told him to leave. In that instant, he made a critical error as he turned his back on the teen and began walking away under the mistaken belief that the teen would simply walk away and leave him alone. Because he let his guard down, he was completely unprepared when the teen tackled him from behind and pain exploded across his back and side even as he hit the sand face first.

That didn't mean he didn't fight back; lashing out with his hands and feet as they rolled back and forth across the sand while at the same time trying to get his hands on his sword or his wand. Unfortunately, the taller teen was far stronger (and better trained) than Harry and it was only a matter of seconds before he was parted from Gryffindor's sword (the blade having sliced through his belt when the teen grabbed the hilt and tossed it away). Still not wanting to admit defeat, Harry's fingers grappled desperately for his wand until he felt the familiar handle slid into his palm. A stunning spell was on the tip of his tongue when the wand was torn from his fingers before he was once again face down in the sand.

He started to roll back over so he could reclaim his wand only for the teen to roughly shove his face back into the sand as he pulled one of Harry's arms behind his back and straddled Harry's thighs. The hand left his head then and grabbed his free hand and despite his best effort to free himself, Harry soon felt his hands being securely tied behind his back with the blindfold he'd used to guide the teen through the wards hiding the cave. Growling, Harry opened his mouth to start yelling and cussing only to immediately close it again as a hand fisted in his hair and he felt the cold barrel of the teen's gun press against his temple. As his head was pulled up and back, Harry felt Heero press closer as he leaned down to hiss in Harry's ear.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice or recognize my own Gundam the moment I saw it, boy?"

Harry couldn't make any sense out of the teen's words; the vulnerable position he was currently being held in bought hundreds of horrible memories to the surface of his mind that drowned out all conscious thought. He never even heard the pitiful whimpers and whines he was making in the back of his throat as old fears overwhelmed him. The fiery pain spreading across his back and sides from the rather nasty scrapes he'd picked up the morning before didn't help as the teen was leaning rather heavily on them and they'd been hit several times during their scuffle. The sand that had worked its way under his shirt only made it worse.

He must have passed out at some point after that because the next time he became aware of his surroundings he found himself propped up against the cool and yet oddly warm metal side of the white, red, and blue robot he'd pulled from the water. Crouching less than a foot away once more aiming his pistol in Harry's general direction was Heero, his blue eyes once more cold and hard as he watched Harry's every move.

"Are you paying attention this time, boy?"

Harry scowled at the much hated form of address as he tried to brush off the sand clinging to his face by wiping his face against his shoulder only to feel a sharp sting as the teen slapped him. Hissing, Harry narrowed his eyes and glared at Heero as the teen lifted the gun a bit so that it was now leveled at Harry's face for the second time. Sliding his eyes from the teen's cold face to the equally cold barrel of the gun, Harry couldn't help but feel a sharp stab of self disgust at being caught so easily. He shoved the feeling aside and let his eyes search for his wand and soon found both it and the sword sitting well out of his reach.

"Eyes on me, boy," Heero growled and Harry snapped his eyes back to the teen's face and resentfully gave the teen his full attention. "Better, I suppose, but you'd best pay close attention because I am getting sick and tired of repeating myself. How did you get my Gundam?"

Harry frowned in confusion as he tried to place the unfamiliar word and he allowed his eyes to slip away from Heero as his thoughts turned inwards in his search for understanding. Another stinging slap had him refocusing on the teen once more to find him scowling at Harry. Not trusting himself to not provoke the teen with his mouth at the moment, Harry shook his head. A heartbeat later, he jumped and let out an involuntary cry as Heero shifted the gun a fraction and fired what looked like a beam of light from his gun that singed Harry's hair before it ricocheted off the robot behind him and struck the pile of salvage that Harry had collected a couple of days ago. Heart pounding from the unexpected display, Harry felt icy numbness settle over him instead of the fear he suspected the teen was trying to generate.

"Answer the question, brat, or the next shot is going to destroy your left knee."

"I would, if I had any fucking clue what the hell you were talking about, you bloody bag of bloated boggart barf," Harry growled out as a flash of anger sharply cut through the numbness and overrode his common sense for an instant.

"Wrong answer," Heero barked as he sucker punched Harry in the stomach unexpectedly.

Harry vomited up bile and blood (his stomach empty of all else) as he slumped forward from the pain and the force of the blow. Seconds later he felt fingers coiling in his hair before his head was jerked up and slammed back into the metal monstrosity behind him. The continued physical violence sharply brought to mind his pre-Hogwarts days and the numerous times that Dudley and his friends played Harry Hunting and a brief flash of contempt filled his eyes before he locked his emotions behind a mask of indifference.

A second blow to his stomach ignited a spark of resentment and a thread of hate coiled in his belly when he next looked into those murderous eyes that were boring into him. In some ways his current situation was far worse than when he'd found himself an unwanted participant at Voldemort's rebirth; if only because there was something humiliating in being physically beat by the teen he'd rescued from the sea. A teen he had foolishly turned his back on even though he'd already known the teen had a tendency towards violence.

"Last chance, you either tell me the truth or you lose your left knee."

"I already told you! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

It was only Harry's seeker reflexes that saved his knee from complete destruction as Heero shot his weird laser like gun at his left knee; even then the beam of the weapon burned through the side of his knee and he screamed long and loud as it set his entire leg on fire with pain. Harry clamped his mouth shut to cut short his scream seconds later as the pain receded to a barely tolerable burn. That had hurt… it had hurt far worse than he would have expected and possibly worse than Voldemort's Cruciatus but Harry couldn't be certain and he really didn't want to repeat the experience just to find out.

He wasn't given any more time to recover as the teen addressed him once more, "How did my Gundam come to be in your possession?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to answer that if I don't know what the hell a Gundam is, you stupid sack of sphinx shit!?" Harry half yelled as the pain ate away at what little common sense he might have had left.

Heero's response was to grab hold of Harry's injured knee and dig his thumb into the bloody gash, drawing a second scream from Harry as the pain returned with a vengeance. In that moment, Harry felt the first tendrils of fear that had nothing to do with old memories and everything to do with the teen holding him at gunpoint. He still wasn't afraid of dying; he knew there would be no pain in death. No, he was afraid of what the cold, murderous teen staring at him with emotionless blue eyes that were as hard as diamonds would do to him before he was allowed to escape into the arms of death.

"I don't what a Gundam is," Harry repeated desperately once Heero had removed his hand from Harry's knee and the pain had dulled enough that he could speak without screaming. A heartbeat later, he felt his stomach lodge itself firmly in his throat as Heero dropped the gun and pressed it to his right kneecap in an unspoken promise. Sheer terror spurred Harry to plead and beg as tears began pouring from his eyes, "I swear on my life, I've never heard of a Gundam before! Please… I swear I have no idea what you are talking about! Please… I'll… I'll do anything you want… give you anything you want if I have it… just please… please don't shoot me again. Please… please…"

Something Harry had said must have finally convinced the other teen that Harry was telling the truth, as he abruptly stood up before he roughly yanked Harry up off the ground and spun him around so he was facing the gigantic machine. Harry was then lifted off the ground and shoved up against the robot with his feet dangling close to a foot off the ground as Heero pinned him in place with his hip and pressed an arm across the back of Harry's neck while his other hand dug the barrel of the gun into Harry's left hip. He then felt Heero's lips brush across his ear as Heero leaned close and hissed in his ear.

"Where did you find this mobile suit? How did you get it?"

"The robot…?" Harry asked uncertainly in a voice that shook more than a little as the physical proximity of the teen only increased his growing fear of the teen combined with past fears.

"Answer the question!"

"I was scared when I found the bits of metal washing up on the beach. I'd seen the robots fall from the sky and feared someone would come looking for them and find me instead. So… so I gathered up all the broken parts and pulled the two robots from the water so I could hide them. I didn't know who they belonged to… and it never occurred to me that one of them might be yours… I just didn't want anyone to find me."

"Who helped you take them out of the ocean?"

"No one! I swear! I pulled them out by myself."

"You expect me to believe that?" Heero growled as he jabbed the tip of the gun deeper into Harry's hip to remind him it was there. "A Gundam weighs thousands of pounds; how in the hell could a little kid like you pull it up from the bottom of the ocean let alone get it onto shore?"

"I swear! It was just me… I… I used… I used my wand to bring them up. I used my… my magic."

"Magic? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"I'm telling the truth. I can prove it! If you give me my wand I will show you."

"Say I believe you enough to allow you to prove what you say is true… how do I know you won't try and attack me the moment I let you have your so called wand?"

"I… I… I'll swear an oath on my magic to… to not attack you," Harry recklessly promised in his desperation to avoid being shot again. "I can't break a magical promise; my magic won't let me."

Harry's breathing became ragged with fear as the silence weighed down on him while he waited for the teen to either accept his offer or shoot him again. Just when Harry didn't think he could take the suspense any longer, Heero countered coldly, "No… a promise like that isn't good enough. You will swear an oath to do everything I tell you instead."

"You… you would have me make myself your… your slave?" Harry asked in a frightened little voice that cracked with fear as icy fingers grabbed hold of his heart and soul.

"No… it's more like I will be your commanding officer; you can word it however you like so long as it basically states that you will do as I tell you, when I tell you."

"Isn't there some other way…?"

"You either swear the oath so you can prove that you aren't lying about how you ended up with my Gundam or I will systematically destroy every bone in your body in order to see if you change your story at some point."

Harry closed his eyes and pressed his face up against the cold yet warm metal of the Gundam as his tears began falling once more. He knew the choices Heero had given him basically meant he'd either be bound as a slave to the other teen for the rest of his life (no matter what Heero called it) or he would be slowly and painfully tortured for days on end until death finally claimed him. It almost felt like a part of him died as he realized he wasn't strong enough or brave enough to risk facing endless torture; and worse, his magic still didn't recognize the teen as the threat he was.

The feel of the teen pressing sharply against his injuries and jabbing at his hip with his gun again had Harry brokenly choking out, "I… I'll swear the oath."

Ten minutes later, after working out an appropriate oath (that Heero had demanded to proof read to make certain Harry wasn't trying to trick him) Harry was holding his wand in his right hand while his left arm was firmly being held behind his back by Heero. He did his best to ignore the cold barrel of the gun that was pressing into the base of his neck and the burning ache in his wounded knee as he brought his wand up so that it was sitting parallel to his heart, with the tip pointing straight up into the sky.

Harry briefly considered cursing the teen standing behind him but just as quickly discarded the idea because he couldn't be certain that he could hit Heero with a stunner before the teen shot him. Taking a deep breath, Harry choked back a sob and swallowed his pride as he tied his life to a coldhearted teen that had no qualms about torturing or killing others.

"I, Harry James Potter, swear on my magic to obey, without question, every reasonable order given to me by Odin Lowe Junior (alias Heero Yuy) providing that his orders will not force me to take my own life, take the life of an innocent, lead to the death of an ally or cause harm to myself, an innocent, or an ally for as long as I shall live or until Odin Lowe Junior releases me from my oath. So… so mote it be."

Harry felt his magic surge up in response to his oath and he gasped in shock as he felt the oath settle over his magical core as a portion of it wrapped around his soul to seal the oath. When it was over, he bonelessly sank to the ground as Heero released him, his entire being numb with shock over what he'd just done. Bowing his head, he swallowed back the tears of shame that began burning behind his eyes as he waited for his life of servitude to begin.

"You are to never again address me as Odin Lowe Junior or even speak that name aloud for any reason unless I give you permission," Heero ordered a minute later. "Now, show me how you moved my suit."

Harry nodded slowly in response to both orders as he climbed to his feet (ignoring the searing pain of his various wounds) and staggered momentarily as his left knee buckled beneath his weight. Swallowing both his sobs and his scream, he limped away from both Heero and the Gundam for several agonizing steps before he turned around to face the huge machine once more. Knowing he'd likely crush both of them if he used the summoning spell on the robot because of how close they were both standing to it; Harry instead used the levitation charm to lift the entire thing two feet off the ground.

If not for the seriousness of the situation Harry now found himself in he might have laughed as Heero let out a startled squawk and scrambled away from the floating metal monstrosity. Harry dropped the suit a moment later as the strain of magically lifting something so heavy on top of his exhausted state became too much. He allowed himself to sink to the ground once more in exhaustion as the edges of his vision went black and pressed his hands to his face to keep himself from passing out because he didn't trust Heero not to torture him despite the oath he'd given. Barely suppressed sobs racked his body as he also fought to ignore the fact that his entire body ached and burned with every beat of his heart.

"Harry, look at me," Heero ordered firmly and Harry flinched sharply over the proximity of the other teen's voice before he lifted his head as instructed. "I am going to ask you several questions and you are to answer them promptly and truthfully, do you understand? In fact, I'm going to order you to never lie to me."

"Yes, sir."

"Have you ever lied to me?"

"No, sir."

"Where do you live?"

"In the cave behind you."

"Is there anyone else living here with you?"

"No, sir."

"Does anyone else know you are living here?"

"No, sir."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen almost seventeen."

"You told me your parents were dead; who took care of you after they died? Where are your guardians now? Is there anyone you know who would be looking for you?"

"I was left with my mother's sister and her husband the night my parents were killed but I took care of myself as soon as I was old enough. I don't know what happened to the Dursleys after my godfather sent me away the first chance he got. I don't particularly care what happened to them in any case," Harry replied dully as he turned his face away from Heero and stared out at the ocean without seeing it. "And I can't answer your last question because I don't know if anyone I knew has bothered looking for me. Not that they'd have any luck finding me anyway since Sirius cast me away like he did. I wouldn't want any of them to find me. I never wanted to be found period."

There were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence before Heero asked, "How do I get back inside of the cave? And how did you hide the entrance?"

"You just walk; the entrance is hidden with an illusion that only appears solid to those who are not keyed into the wards. So long as I am touching you or something you are wearing I can lead you through the barrier but you can't enter or exit on your own."

"What do you mean by wards?"

"It's a type of protective magic that hides or shields a specific location; such as my cave and a small portion of the beach in front of my cave."

"Tell me a little more of how the wards work and how much of the beach is protected within those wards."

"I enclosed approximately a ninety foot stretch of the beach, forty-five feet to either side of the cave; the entire section runs from the face of the cliff to five feet shy of the tide line. Each ward has a specific function; one hides the entire area from casual observers, another prevents those that specifically wish to harm me from entering the wards, there is one that turns away those who have no magic, one that prevents solid objects from passing through the wards unless I allow them, another hides the cave and this stretched of beach from several forms of magical detection, and finally there is one that is supposed to make it impossible to locate the cave through muggle or magical means. The mouth of the cave also has a barrier ward on it that prevents anyone from seeing it or accidentally walking through it in case the outer wards are breached."

"What would have happened if I'd stepped outside of the wards when you told me to leave earlier?"

"The moment you passed through the wards, you would have felt an immediate urge to leave the area. You also would have temporarily forgotten all about me. Once you were far enough away from the influence of the wards you might have immediately remembered me but you would have remembered nothing about my cave or the beach and you'd never remember how to find me again other than knowing the general area."

"I see. Earlier, you mentioned that you have to be touching me in order for me to pass through the wards. Is there a way for you to allow me to pass through the wards without you having to guide me each time?"

"Yes, sir."

Heero leaned back at that point and studied Harry intently for the next several minutes with cold, calculating, blue eyes before asking, "Are you in pain right now?"

"What do you care?" Harry belligerently demanded as he snapped his head back around to glare at the younger teen.

"Just answer the damn questions, brat."

"I'm fine, I don't need you playing doctor on my behalf; you've done more than enough as it is," Harry snapped back before gasping as his oath sent a sharp tendril of pain through his chest due to his refusal to obey the direct order. He fisted his right hand in his shirt over his heart as he folded himself in half and cried out sharply as the pain spiked a second time before he blurted out, "Fine! Fine! I'm in pain, alright!? Damn it; can't you just leave me alone now!?"

Heero remained silent for several minutes and if Harry had looked up he would have seen the blue eyed teen staring at him in pure shock. As it was, Harry never looked up and Heero broke the silence five minutes later as he spoke, "One last question and then I will tend to your wounds. What is running through your mind right now?"

"I'm wishing I never would have left my cave the day the robots fell from the sky, wishing I never stumbled across you on the beach, and wishing you had killed me when you first woke up to spare me the humiliation of turning myself into a slave and having my own magic used against me. I'm also thinking that I hate you more than I hate anyone from my past and that if you ever do free me from my oath I will use the first chance I have to kill you for what you have forced me to force myself to become because I was too weak to face the pain you promised."

"Not one for mincing words now; are you?"

"You ordered me to tell you the truth so you have no one to blame but yourself if you dislike what I tell you," Harry replied cuttingly as he lifted his gaze from the ground to meet Heero's eyes once more. Heero snorted as he climbed to his feet and leaned down to scoop Harry up into his arms (unintentionally pressing painfully against the scraps on Harry's back and side) and Harry reacted instinctively to both the increase in pain and the unwanted physical contact; struggling to break free even as he cried out, "Let me go! Put me down right now! Let go of me this instant, you two faced son of an insane jarvey!"

"Sit still and stop your whining before you hurt yourself further," Heero ordered. "Your wounds need to be treated and you are obviously in no condition to do so yourself so you will allow me to treat all of your injuries; even the ones you tried to hide from me this morning." Harry immediately went limp in his arms and began sulking and fuming in turns as the teen carried him towards the entrance of his cave. "Can you do whatever it is you need to do to make it so I can move about freely now or would it be better to do so after I tend to your injuries?"

"I can do that now; keying a person into the wards in no where near as taxing as putting up the actual wards."

"Then please do so now."

Harry huffed and grumbled under his breath but unhesitatingly lifted his wand and chanted out a string of Latin that soon had Heero jerking in surprise and nearly dropping Harry as the world shifted around the other teen; indicating that he had been keyed into the wards. Harry felt a perverse sense of satisfaction over the fact that he'd managed to once again catch the taller teen off guard; much as he'd felt the night before when he'd flipped the teen up with a silent _Levicorpus_ and a temporary silencing charm before he left him dangling upside down for several hours.

If only he'd been paying attention when they first stepped outside, Harry could have used that tactic again in order to save himself a lot of grief. Good mood gone, Harry sank in on himself and scowled at the blood he could see seeping from his ruined pants where the teen carrying him had shot him in the knee.

_Oh fuck me,_ Harry screamed mentally as he suddenly jerked upright in Heero's arms and turned horrified eyes up to stare at the blue eyed brunette. _I just swore an oath to obey the person who has more than once promised to not just kill me but to kill me in the slowest and most painful way possible. Someone, somewhere up in heaven must really hate me and enjoy seeing me suffer._

"What's wrong, kid?"

"You're still here! What the hell did you think was wrong, you sadistic son of a skrewt?" Harry growled as he dropped his eyes to the wand he still held in his hand.

"You aren't thinking about using that on me right now, are you?"

"I was."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," Heero sighed as he stopped and glanced down at Harry. "I'm going to order you to never use your wand or your magic on me unless I specifically give you permission to or in the event of an emergency where magic might save my life or another's."

"I figured that was a given, won't stop me from wishing I could."

"Have you ever used magic on me before? And if you have what kind of magic was it and why?"

"Yes. I used magic to bring you back to my cave because you were too heavy for me to carry," Harry replied with a slight frown. "I was going to use magic to heal you and find out what was wrong with you but you woke up before I could, so I didn't. The only other times I used magic on you was when I flipped you upside down and made it so you couldn't talk last night and just now when I keyed you into the wards. Had I been paying attention before you attacked this afternoon, I could have done that again or simply knocked you unconscious but I wasn't thinking clearly and stopped paying attention to you because I had hoped you'd just leave."

By the time Harry finished, they were inside of the bedroom and Heero was setting Harry down on the spare bed that Harry had slept in the night before. Harry hissed sharply as the movement jarred his wounded knee but otherwise remained silent.

"Where do you keep your first aide kit?"

"I don't exactly have a first aide kit, not in the traditional sense, but I keep all of my healing potions and medical supplies in my trunk."

"I want you to key me into the trunk so I can get what I need to fix up your knee."

"Not possible; the trunk's safety features are far too complicated for my current abilities and if I attempted to tamper with them or make any changes to them it could theoretically trigger an explosion large enough to destroy this cave if not the entire island."

"Okay; I'm guessing that would be a bad idea. If I hold you, will you be able to open the trunk and get what you need?"

"I don't know; it was my godfather that keyed me into them and I was unconscious at the time and they didn't exactly come with a full set of instructions; just a warning to never tamper with the security charms and never use spells above a specific level inside of the trunk because it would destabilize the Expansion Charm."

"Only one way to find out I suppose," Heero mused as he picked Harry up once more (his arm once again pressing painfully against the wounds on Harry's back and side; drawing a whimpered growl from the wizard) and carried him to the end of the other bed where he knelt down in front of the trunk so Harry could open it.

Following the unspoken order; Harry gingerly reached out, lifted the lid of the trunk, and instructed Heero to step inside when the trunk appeared to be functioning as designed. While Heero was staring around at the larger than expected and extremely well organized room of supplies (which Harry had spent months putting into order during his first year on the island), Harry directed him to the shelves right next to the stairs where he kept his medical supplies (avoiding the seemingly endless maze of shelves).

He then promptly began gathering those items he suspected he would need to heal his wounds (based upon his limited practical knowledge). This included a Pain Relieving Potion, another jar of the healing cream for his back and side, several rolls of gauze, Skele-Gro (in case his knee had been damaged to the point where he'd need to vanish a few bones and regrow them), Bone-Knit (to repair the bone if the Skele-Gro wasn't needed), a jar of Bruise Balm, a Calming Draught, a strong disinfectant to clean his injuries, and a vial of Dreamless Sleep because he suspected he would need it to escape the nightmares he was sure would haunt him that night.

Once he had everything he thought he might need, he let Heero know he was finished so the teen could carry him out of the trunk. Back in the bedroom, Harry was once more settled on the bed. After that there was a brief scuffle as Heero tried to help Harry undress and Harry immediately panicked over the teen's attempts to remove his clothes. It took several minutes to clear that misunderstanding up and shortly afterwards Harry was sitting stiffly on the bed in nothing but his boxers as he watched Heero clean and disinfect the rather charred looking wound on the side of his knee.

"You're lucky you moved your leg when you did or the damage would have been even worse," Heero informed Harry as he worked.

"I doubt it would have made all that much difference in either the damage done or the pain it inflicted," Harry countered absently as he leaned closer to inspect the damaged portion of the bone that he could see glistening through the gaping wound. "Damn it, I'm going to have to regrow both my thigh bone and the stupid kneecap; the Bone-Knit won't be able to fix that much damage. Do you have any fucking idea how much it hurts to regrow bones?"

Without waiting for the other teen to form an answer or ask Harry what he was going to do, Harry tapped his wand on this knee and vanished both of the damaged bones without hesitation (the one healing spell he knew due to a mishap he'd had when first arrived nearly two years earlier). He then folded up a long section of gauze to form a thick pad, soaked it with the disinfectant solution, pressed it over the gaping wound in his knee and proceeded to loosely wrap his knee with another long strip of gauze while Heero stared at him as if he was crazy. Sure, Heero often treated his own injuries and had on more than one occasion set his own broken bones; but seeing someone casually remove a pair of bones without an ounce of hesitation was a bit much for the stoic soldier.

"Guess that means it was pointless for me to drag these other potions up; I can't take anything with the Skele-Gro since they don't mix well with the regrowth potion."

"Does that include the topical creams for your bruises and the half healed scrapes on your other leg, your side, and your back? How did you get those anyway? It looks like someone tried to skin you alive."

"No the topical stuff is fine; I just can't drink any other potions with the Skele-Gro. And I got hurt when I was knocked off the rocky promontory jutting out from the beach by a wave. At the time, I'd been too busy trying to make sense of the falling robots I'd seen crash into the ocean to pay attention and paid for it."

"Hnn… pass me the bottle of disinfectant, the stuff that you brought up to use on the scrapes, and roll over onto your stomach so I can clean the sand from your back and side."

Harry growled low in his throat but reluctantly complied with the order, his shoulders tensing long before he felt the teen start cleaning the wounds. Once Heero had finished cleaning those he could reach, Harry couldn't help but flinch when he felt the teen's fingers start spreading the healing cream over the raw sections of broken skin. He would have squirmed away from the teen's hands if not for the clipped order to hold still. When Heero finished with the cream, he asked Harry for the bruise balm and if the paste needed to be spread over the bruises in a thin layer or if they had to be massaged into the skin before he began applying the balm as instructed to the bruises on Harry's back where the skin wasn't broken (rubbing it in until it was absorbed by Harry's skin).

"I'm done with your back, I need you to sit up and face me now so I can take care of the rest of the scrapes and bruises on your stomach, arms, face, and leg."

"I can take care of those ones myself," Harry countered as he froze with his stomach half off the bed.

"Don't argue with me right now, brat; just sit up and let me to fix the damage I did."

Harry reluctantly complied but flinched each time Heero's hand brushed against him as the teen first cleaned the rest of his scrapes before he applied the healing cream to them. The moment he finished dealing with the open wounds, Heero spread the bruise balm over his numerous bruises; starting with the ones on his face. The taller teen then moved onto the ones on his arms before dealing with the ones on Harry's chest, stomach, and right leg and though he tried to ignore Heero's hands, Harry still let out more than one half choked keening sob over the unwanted (if innocent) and prolonged contact.

Thankfully, Heero didn't draw the process out any longer than necessary as Harry didn't think he could have coped with the contact for much longer. When that was over, Heero wrapped his torso and right leg with a roll of gauze; the taller teen wrapping the bandages far more snuggly than Harry had been able to do on his own which helped support his bruised ribs.

Finally, Harry opened the single dose of Skele-Gro and swallowed the vile concoction in a single gulp before gagging repeatedly over the foul taste. He then spent a minute propping up his left leg up on a pillow to prevent his kneecap and femur from growing back deformed before lying back and making himself as comfortable as possible. As the first splinters of the new bone began forming beneath his skin and muscles just minutes later, Harry swallowed a scream and bit down hard on his right fist as he closed his eyes and willed himself into unconsciousness.

All the while, troubled blue eyes watched his face intently.

* * *

Heero was more than a little disturbed by the day's turn of events. He was also more than a little disgusted with himself for threatening an eight year old… or rather a soon to be seventeen year old that looked like an eight year old with torture and damn near carrying out said torture. As he watched the teen trapped in a child's body writhing in agony as the potion did whatever magic it was it did to fix the bones he'd destroyed in the kid's thigh and knee, Heero wondered if he was a monster. He had been perfectly willing to torture a child, regardless of how old he was the kid was still physically a child, simply because the kid had salvaged his Gundam in the hopes it would stop the world from finding him.

That wasn't even taking into account the shock of learning about the kid's magic. He was fully aware that there were people out there that had unique abilities that were commonly known as Talents (such as telekinesis, telepathy, empathy, and elemental manipulation) but the kid's abilities seemed to outclass even the strongest of Talents. In fact, Heero had fully believed that what Harry was calling magic was nothing more than one such Talent right up until the kid had refused to answer a question. He knew the kid hadn't faked the pain he'd felt and at the time, he thought he had felt something brush across his skin at the time; like the faintest of static shocks.

After a couple of hours, when it looked as if Harry was finally sleeping lightly if not exactly peacefully, Heero allowed his guilt to chase him outside where he stood just outside the mouth of the cave and stared at the outline of his Gundam in the face of the rising moon. As he stared out over the almost peaceful tableau the full impact of just what he'd done hit him and Heero folded in half as he vomited. He then dropped to his knees as his entire body began shaking as his actions and words endlessly cycled through his mind.

_I attacked the one who most likely saved my life or at least saved me from potentially being captured and when he didn't give the answers I wanted I resorted to threatening him. When that still didn't get the answers I desperately wanted, I physically assaulted him before following through on my threats. The only reason he wasn't permanently maimed is because the kid had lightning fast reflexes and miracle cures to fix what I destroyed. I didn't hesitate to try to break his spirit and then forced him to use his magic to basically enslave him. _

Heero had no idea just how long he'd been kneeling there in the sand when he finally came back to his senses but he knew there was no way he could go back to the person he was before he'd met Harry. He couldn't live with himself if he became the monster he saw in his memory. Climbing resolutely to his feet, Heero made his way over to his Gundam, scrambled up to the cockpit, and engaged the manual override in order to unseal the door.

Slipping inside of the technologically superior mobile suit, Heero began firing up the systems in order to assess the damage the suit had taken from the brief battle and subsequent crash landing in the ocean. He was more than a little frustrated to find that more than half of the systems weren't working properly; including the communications system which he'd been hoping to utilize in order to tell Dr. J where he could stick his all important missions (which would later turn out to be a blessing in disguise).

Irritated, Heero growled out a few curses before he shut the suit down, grabbed a few things he thought he might need, and locked it back up before heading inside to check on Harry. He found the tiny teen whimpering and crying in his sleep and discovered that the kid had broken through the skin on his right hand with his teeth in an effort to stop himself from screaming out over the pain or possibly the nightmares the kid was obviously suffering from.

Gently working the kid's injured hand free, Heero replaced it with his penlight (one of the items he'd taken from his Gundam) that he had wrapped in a layer of gauze. He then spent several minutes disinfecting the new wound and applying more of the healing cream before bandaging the hand. The rest of the night was spent alternately watching over Harry as the kid tossed and turned and whispering words of apology and reassurance that he wasn't quite certain were heard by their intended recipient.

Just before dawn, Heero ended up joining Harry in the bed as the kid finally fell into a deeper (if still not quite peaceful) sleep; stretching out on top of the covers so as to not alarm the other teen should he wake up first even as he pulled the boy close in order to better keep an eye on the kid. As he drifted off to sleep, the Gundam pilot designated as Zero-One swore he would never again intentionally harm the child-sized teen stretched out beside him. Heero even silently gave permission to the teen to use his magic to protect himself from him if he was unknowingly causing the kid pain.

While the Gundam pilot known as Zero-One was experiencing an acute attack of a recently re-awoken conscience; the other four pilots were steadily taking out the first of many strategic targets fed to them by their respective scientists and other contacts. The reactions to the brutal attacks, both on earth and in space, were mixed; with some of the people reviling the terrorist like attacks, some of them fully supporting the liberating destruction of their oppressors, another group looking to use the actions of the Gundams to hide their own movements, and the rest firmly trying to maintain neutrality in an effort to facilitate peace between the Colonies and Earth.

* * *

**AN:** _This was one of the hardest chapters for me to write because of how easily it would be for people to get the wrong idea about the oath that Harry swore to Heero. Contrary to Harry's fears, he's not going to be Heero's slave and Heero's not going to order him to do anything inappropriate. Heero just wanted some insurance that Harry would listen to him since he was already fully aware of Harry's contrary and stubborn nature. That and up until he witnessed the results of Harry attempting to disobey a direct order he hadn't really believed that magic existed. _

_Now, some of you might be worried that I am going to turn Harry into a complete whiny wimp due to his reactions in this chapter; don't worry, he won't be a pansy all the time even if he does have his moments every now and then. Also, you don't have to fear that I'll turn Heero into peace loving pacifist that runs around spouting off poetry and hugging everyone. He'll still be his usual cold and anti-social self most of the time; I just needed him to be a little more human and therefore played upon the one potential weakness that canon left me (his memories of the girl and her dog). _

_Anyway, next chapter will have the promised peek at what the other pilots have been doing during the Harry and Heero drama and will set the stage for Harry to meet another pilot. ~ Jenn_


	6. The Seeds of War and Dissent

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter contains some spoilers for Episode Zero of Gundam Wing._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 5: The Seeds of War and Dissent

Duo Maxwell (a former street rat who grew up on the streets of the L2 Colony Cluster) often referred to as Zero-Two by the scientist that built his suit and pilot of the Gundam Mobile Suit designated as Deathscythe, entered Earth's atmosphere without any interference about the same time Heero Yuy was engaging in an aerial battle with two Alliance Aries Suits and a Leo piloted by OZ operatives. Running into no resistance, Duo quickly met up with his contact and set up his cover as a salvage technician on a private ship owned by a man known only as Howard.

After making certain his Gundam suffered no damage upon his entry into Earth's atmosphere, Duo accepted his first mission; destroy a mobile suit factory based in central North America. While Duo was cutting down the enemy's mobile suit collection in the States, Howard picked up rumors that another Gundam had been shot down over the southern pacific somewhere off the southern coast of Japan. Duo had barely finished his first mission when he was given his second; recover and salvage the downed Gundam Suit before the Alliance or OZ could capture the suit.

Duo joined Howard on the salvage ship in order to rearm his various weapons and carry out a few minor repairs before he hit the skies once more to hunt down the search teams looking for what amounted to a sunken treasure. The self styled shinigami caught up with the Alliance's naval fleet about the same time that Heero was being escorted out of Harry's cave and ordered to leave; approximately thirty-three hours after all five Gundams had entered Earth's atmosphere. Duo would spend five hours hiding in the shadow of the command ship as he hacked into their communications system and monitored their progress.

The long haired pilot was understandably confused to discover that both the downed Gundam Suit and a modified Alliance Leo that had sunk within the immediate area had mysteriously vanished seemingly without a trace sometime after they'd crashed into the ocean. Odder still was the fact that there was no sign of the expected debris from the destruction of two Alliance Aries that had occurred shortly before the two more powerful suits had plunged into the ocean. Duo spent an hour relaying the new information back to Howard and it was soon decided that it was more important that Duo discover what had happened to the missing Gundam and his third mission was postponed as he continued to monitor the communication system of the search team.

Just before dawn the next morning, the search team determined that the pilot of the sunken Gundam must have somehow managed to survive and leave the area after they discovered a section of the ocean floor that had been recently torn up by what was believed to be heavy machinery. Satisfied that the other suit was not in immediate danger of falling into enemy hands (and more than a little disappointed that he would no longer be allowed to use the other suit as spare parts for his own Gundam) Duo passed along his discoveries to Howard before the God of Death rose from the sea and destroyed the entire search fleet.

Duo's current mission was now changed to tracking down the Gundam and its pilot to discover the pilot's objectives before either asking the other pilot to join their cause or destroy him and confiscate his suit in order to protect both Earth and the Colonies. By seven o'clock that morning, Deathscythe was submerged just off the coast of Japan not more than fifteen miles from the small island that housed Harry's cave where Heero Yuy was currently sleeping beside an injured Harry Potter.

Duo would spend the rest of the morning scanning everything within a five hundred mile radius for any sign of the missing Gundam in addition to anything out of the ordinary.

* * *

Pilot Zero-Three, the self named Trowa Barton, was once known simply as No-Name by the mercenaries that had raised and trained him until just after he turned ten years old when their location was given away by an Alliance plant. After barely escaping the slaughter of his fellow mercenaries with his life, No-Name joined up with the Barton Group. He'd spent the next five years with the Barton Group until the day the original Trowa Barton (son of an ambitious and scrupleless man and leader of the Barton Group; Dekim Barton) was killed by one of the Gundam mechanics that were working on the Gundam Heavyarms.

That was the day that No-Name took the name Trowa Barton as his own in order to cover up the murder of the original Trowa Barton and to hide the fact that the newly renamed No-Name would be stealing the Gundam in order to prevent Operation Meteor (which is what the plot to take over the Earth had been designated as) from succeeding.

Like Duo, Trowa's arrival on Earth went smoothly and largely unnoticed. Trowa's immediate destination upon his safe (and overlooked) arrival was northern Europe where he immediately hid his Gundam before searching for a cover to hide his presence. While searching the internet he ran across an old advertisement for a traveling circus in need of a clown and the young pilot promptly created a resume and hunted down the current location of the circus before appropriating a transport vehicle for his Gundam.

At the same time that Harry was dragging the seemingly unconscious Heero back to his newly hidden cave on the eastern coast of Japan; Trowa was hired by the circus after demonstrating his ability to tame the circus's rather unpleasant and unpredictable lions; a feat which had been witnessed by the ringmaster and current owner of the circus. While Duo was finishing up his first mission and preparing to head out to search for the missing Gundam, Trowa was being fitted for his costume under the watchful eye of Catherine Bloom; his new co-worker and an expert knife thrower. As Heero was experiencing zero-gravity in the middle of Harry's hidden cave after trying to attack Harry the first time, Trowa was finishing his first mission to destroy an Alliance military base in Dover.

He'd barely watched the final building implode when he was given his second mission to proceed directly to Corsica Base (off the coast of France and Italy) where he was supposed to destroy an alliance mobile suit research and manufacturing facility. Trowa shook his head, checked his performance schedule, and loaded up his Gundam; stopping twice along the way to refuel the truck and purchase a large amount of munitions in order to reload his suit's numerous guns. Parking his informally requisitioned truck in a well hidden forest just shy of the south-east coast of France, Trowa fired up Heavyarms and crossed the Mediterranean Sea; slipping in beneath the radar as he neared the Corsica Base.

His arrival went unnoticed right up until the first building exploded quite unexpectedly (to the guards on duty). From that point forward, Trowa was facing down wave after wave of mobile suits. It was after the first hour of battle that Trowa realized his information regarding the number of suits being stored at the facility had been outdated (a spur of the moment inspection by one of the higher ranking officers necessitating the need for additional security for the duration of the inspection) and it didn't take Trowa long to come to the conclusion that he would run out of ammunition long before the base ran out of mobile suits to pit him against.

Right around the time Heero was kicked out of Harry's cave and Duo was settling in to find out if the Alliance had yet located the missing Gundam, Trowa was resigning himself to going out with a bang as he prepared to take out as many of his enemies with him along with as much of the half wrecked base as he could. Trowa's true genius and his status as a cold and calculating soldier shone loud and clear on the battlefield that day as he made every bullet count. He moved with the precise and graceful economy of a ballet dancer upon the stage or a sword master facing an opponent of equal or greater skill. He was beauty and art in destruction as he mowed down suit after suit and sent the surrounding buildings up in flames and explosions that had the earth dancing in time with his every move.

When his last bullet was spent, Trowa had Heavyarms release the retractable knife that was affixed to the Gundam's right arm as he moved in closer to his enemy's and began waltzing with death with every step he took. His direction had purpose and knowing the end was near, Trowa swept across the battlefield towards the main research center with the intention of activating the self-destruct sequence when he was within range of the specified target so that even in death he could complete the mission he'd been given in the name of freedom. The pilot formerly known as No-Name almost smiled in contentment as he headed towards his destiny.

He was therefore a little put out when his suicide run was interrupted by an unexpected ally just a minute later but found himself rethinking his personal feelings when he met another Gundam pilot.

* * *

Quatre Raberba Winner was the thirtieth child and only son of Zayeed and Katherine Winner and the chosen pilot of the Gundam Sandrock. His call sign and Gundam designation was Zero-Four and he was an adopted member of the Maganac Corps; whom he once helped during a hostile hostage situation that coincided with a rebellion staged by the laborers on an Alliance resource satellite partially controlled by the Winner Corporation. Quatre's already floundering relationship with his father, under the mistaken belief that his father sees him as replaceable due to his misguided belief that he is just yet another test-tube baby that his father had created in order to further spread the Winner Family influence, took a hard hit when Quatre fled his home with the Gundam Sandrock in order to fight for his beliefs.

Sandrock and Quatre's entry into Earth's atmosphere went smoothly (if not entirely unnoticed) to Quatre's relief and he immediately sent out a message to the leader of the Maganacs; Rashid Kurama. While he waited to hear back from his friend, Quatre headed to the Winner Estate located in Saudi Arabia to establish his home base and his cover for being on Earth since the Winner Family had lived in the Colonies for generations. The mansion had been locked up and virtually abandoned for over a hundred years but that didn't pose any problems for Quatre as he hacked into the Estate's defense system using the family security codes in order to gain access.

About that time he received a reply from Rashid and made arrangements to meet up with the Maganac Corps later that night in order to destroy the search team that the Alliance had sent out to investigate the rumors of his arrival. While he waited for the appointed time to arrive, Quatre ran through a systems check of his Gundam to insure that the Mobile Suit hadn't sustained any damage upon entry while at the same time running a similar check on the Estate's defenses. When he finished with both of those tedious (if important) activities, Quatre went about establishing his reason for being on Earth (that didn't include revealing himself as a Gundam Pilot).

Part of this involved sending out a public announcement that the Winner Family was reestablishing ties to their Earth heritage which was credible because Quatre was the heir of the Winner Corporation (unless his father chose to disown him for his disobedience). In order to make his return appear less cloak and dagger, Quatre hacked into the systems of the nearest spaceport and falsified his travel records to make it appear that he'd returned to Earth via shuttle through the proper channels. The last thing he did was to put up ads indicating that he was hiring, knowing he would need to staff the Estate in order to continue the charade that he was legitimately trying to reform the Earth branch of the Winner Family (though each potential employee would be thoroughly screened before being hired).

The moment the sun began setting, Quatre climbed back into Sandrock and headed off to his meeting with the Maganac. He'd barely arrived at the designated meeting site when Rashid sent him word that they'd located the search team. With the enemy suits spread out searching through the dunes, Quatre and the Maganacs surrounded them one and two at a time, offered them a chance to surrender, and destroyed those that refused to lay down their weapons. When the short lived battle was over, Quatre and the Maganacs retreated into the desert and quickly set up a base camp and hid the various mobile suits, including Sandrock, from casual observation. Quatre was happy to be reunited with his first friends but ultimately sad for the lives he'd been forced to take in battle that night.

There was little time for rest and reunions though as Quatre received his first official mission; an order to destroy the mobile suit research and manufacturing facility at the Corsica Base in the Mediterranean. Not wasting any time, Quatre and the Maganacs prepared to head out; unknowingly heading towards a meeting with a fellow rebel and pilot of another Gundam. Quatre tried to convince the Maganacs to stay behind at first but the effort proved futile when they refused to be left behind. After a rather long and boring journey, their small contingent of mobile suits arrived at Corsica Base to find it already under attack by an unfamiliar Gundam and Quatre ordered the Maganacs to hold their fire as he assessed the situation.

When it became obvious that the other suit (which had obviously been destroying the facilities) was out of ammunition and in danger of being destroyed, Quatre and the Maganacs rushed to aide him as well as continue annihilating the enemy suits. Their involvement quickly drew the attention of the other Gundam who turned to face off against Sandrock as if the pilot thought Quatre was a bigger threat. Having no desire to see a potential ally destroyed for no reason, Quatre shut down Sandrock and opened the cockpit door in order to appeal to the other pilot personally.

To his surprise and relief, the other pilot reciprocated and after a short exchange established that they had both been given the same orders. Quatre invited the other pilot to join him after they finished razing the base.

* * *

Wufei Chang, a rather conflicted and highly intelligent young teen, rebelled against fate after his wife's death and stubbornly took her place as Zero-Five; the pilot of the Gundam Shenlong. The clan leaders of his colony were rather shocked by Wufei's rebellious theft of the Gundam suit due to the teen's preference for book learning as opposed to fighting. That is not to say that Wufei was weak, he wasn't, but it did mean that his opponents usually underestimated him not only because he was young but because he did not hold himself as a warrior would. That all changed on the day of his wife's death though, when his emotions got the better of him as he swore to avenge her death; which he blamed on himself because he believed it was his weakness that had ultimately led to her death.

His entry into Earth's atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean wasn't quite as easy as Duo, Trowa, and Quatre's but neither was it as engaging as Heero's. Instead, Wufei encountered a small fleet of Alliance ships that he was forced to destroy least they spread word of his arrival on the planet. From there he made his way to Africa where he landed in Tanzania in order to purchase explosives and additional ammunition for his Gundam. He received his first mission less than four hours after he'd settled down in his hidden base camp but unlike his fellow rebels he did not just rush off to complete the mission.

Instead, Wufei spent the remainder of his first day on earth and nearly all of his second day researching the facility he was supposed to destroy in addition to compiling data on the prototypes of the new mobile suits that OZ and the Alliance were preparing to ship out into space. His main target, the only known prototypes of the new Taurus suit currently in existence, were far more advanced than the Leos and specifically designed for combat in space. The biggest reason why they wanted to destroy the newer suits though was because they were the first mobile suit to be installed with an operating system that was designed to function without a pilot; meaning that the suits could function at speeds that would normally kill a pilot which gave the mobile dolls (as the unpiloted suits were called) a decidedly deadly advantage.

It was right about the time that an irate Harry was kicking Heero out of his cave that Wufei completed his research. The young pilot then headed to the Lake Victoria Base after hiding his Gundam in the forests not too far from the facility; choosing to sneak onto the base after sunset driving the truck of explosives he'd purchased off the black market just a few hours earlier. Once night had fallen, Wufei began ghosting through the base, planting explosives in the various buildings; paying close attention to the barracks and the storage facilities.

His plan was to cause panic and push the commander of the base into trying to protect the Taurus suits by flying them out on a carrier plane so that it would be easier to destroy them in one fell swoop instead of trying to find out exactly which building or buildings the suits were being kept in or trying to face them in battle where there was a chance one or more could escape. Once the explosives were in place, Wufei began making his way off the base; pausing only long enough to activate the bombs as he climbed on his stolen motorcycle and headed towards where he left his Gundam.

All around him the night came alive with sirens and search parties as the enemy sought to find him in the wake of the numerous explosions. It didn't take long for a trio of mobile suits to pick up his trail using heat sensors. The next half hour was spent playing a game of cat and mouse in which Wufei was the mouse and losing meant he would pay with his life. Only the knowledge that he had to reach his Gundam before the transport plane could carry the Taurus suits off to safety spurred Wufei on despite the suit that was firing at him left and right after the other two split off into the night.

As luck would have it, the pilot of the enemy suit managed to knock Wufei from his bike with a poorly aimed explosion and as Wufei skidded across the ground he grabbed hold of the bag that held his extra explosives. The enemy suit arrived seconds later and he heard a woman's voice order him to stand up and surrender even as she bitched him out for attacking the barracks instead of the mobile suits. The knowledge that his enemy was a woman made Wufei realize why he'd not been killed instantly and he used the woman's weakness against her by activating the entire bag of bombs and escaped in the resulting confusion.

Ten minutes later, Wufei in Shenlong blew the plane carrying the prototype suits out of the sky using one of the Alliance's own weapons that they had attempted to use to destroy his Gundam suit. The last thing Wufei did before he left, was taunt the woman who had almost caught him about her weaknesses and tell her to give up fighting before she got herself killed (the memory of his late wife urging him to convince her to stay out of the looming war).

* * *

Heero woke up about noon to find Harry finally sleeping soundly (the kid having spent the night before and most of the morning locked in nightmares) and he carefully climbed off of the bed without waking the kid. He spent five minutes just observing the gentle rise and fall of Harry's chest before he headed to the bathroom to relieve his bladder and take a shower. When he finished, he checked on Harry again before he headed outside to check over his Gundam once more in the hopes that he could repair the damage enough to at least get the communications system up and running. He picked up the discarded backpack holding the clothes and supplies that Harry had given him the day before as he walked passed it before he climbed up onto the Gundam.

He was still sitting up on the chest of his suit an hour later when he caught sight of Harry exiting the cave out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he watched the kid pause and stare in his direction before abruptly turning to the north and walking (with a slight limp in his gate) along the cliff until he reached another cave entrance that Heero had previously overlooked. Heero then watched the kid look back at him one last time before he disappeared inside of the cave and the teen pilot frowned as he wondered what the kid could possibly be doing. He had his answer ten minutes later when huge gouts of dust began billowing out of the cave as a series of explosions once more shook the area.

He'd suspected that the kid was responsible for the explosions, logic and the kid's offhand comments had told him that much, but it was one thing to guess and another thing entirely to see actual proof. Cursing, Heero dropped down onto the beach and ran towards the second cave as he feared the mule-headed kid would be crushed. He couldn't believe he hadn't asked the kid what he'd been doing and what was causing the explosions when he had the chance. The closer he got to the cave the harder it was to keep his footing as the ground shook with each heavy blast and all Heero could see in his mind was the kid's broken body buried beneath a mound of falling rocks.

"Harry!" Heero hollered as loud as he could as he skidded to a stop just outside of the mouth of the cave as he couldn't see beyond the smoke and debris that was billowing out of the cavern. The explosions stopped and five minutes later, a dust covered Harry limped hesitantly out of the cave while dispelling what looked like a large blue bubble from around his head. "What in the hell do you think you're doing, kid!?"

"I'm making a place to hide the robots," Harry replied with a scowl as he glared up at Heero. "And stop calling me kid, damn it; I'm at least a year older than you."

"Doesn't matter how old you are; you still look like a punk kid," Heero countered as leaned against the cliff-side and frowned down at the shorter teen. "Don't you think it's a bit too dangerous for you to be setting off explosives in a cliff-side cave that could crash down around your ears?"

"I'm not using explosives, I'm using magic," Harry corrected as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared up at Heero. "And I've already reinforced the walls and ceiling so they won't fall down; it's perfectly safe for me to be in there as I carve deeper into the cliff."

"Uh-huh… safe? Then why are you bleeding again?"

"It's just a couple of scratches from where I was hit by flying rock chips," Harry replied dismissively. "They'll be healed up by tomorrow. Why haven't you left?"

"I'm not leaving just yet," Heero replied absently as he pushed away from the cliff and walked into the cave so he could see what the kid had been doing. "I have to repair Wing and you need someone to watch over you."

"I don't need a babysitter; self appointed or otherwise," Harry complained hotly as he followed behind Heero and used his wand to clear the air so that they could see where they were going and breathe without inhaling the floating dust.

Heero ignored Harry and whistled instead as he saw that the cave he was now standing in was nearly as large as the main room of the cave where Harry had been living. The walls were no where near as smooth and the ceiling was no where near as high but it was far larger than what he'd expected when he first walked in. The most notable features in the cave were the huge gouge marks that Harry must have made along the northern side of the cave if the scattered rocks and the occasional piles of loose dirt were any indication; evidence of the destruction that the pint-sized wizard had caused.

"How long have you been working on this and how big was the cave when you first started?"

"I've been working on it since the night I found you on the beach and it wasn't much of a cave before I started making it bigger; nothing more than a few small rabbit-sized holes in the cliff-side."

"Are you telling me that most of this entire cavern is man-made? And that you managed to get it this big in less than two days!?" Heero demanded as whirled around to stare at Harry in shock. "How the hell is that even possible? Where did the rest of the rocks and dirt that you blasted out go?"

"Magic made it possible. I can't explain how it works but I can show you if you'd like. You'd have to let me cast a couple of spells on you first; otherwise you could be hurt."

Heero felt distinctly nervous at the mention of allowing Harry to cast magic on him but after a minute he felt it would be worth it if he was to learn a bit more of what Harry was capable of doing with his magic. Glancing down at the kid, he caught a brief look of nervousness and uncertainty before Harry hid it behind a blank mask. Sighing, Heero finally stated, "You may cast what spells you need to so I can watch you work for a short while."

Harry nodded and led Heero to the south wall where he built a small bunker out of loose rocks and dirt with a few waves of his wand and Heero was hard pressed not to gape and gawk at the display. Harry then cast a series of spells over the entire structure before asking Heero to climb inside so he could put up the final shield (which was actually cast on the pilot) and cast the Bubblehead Charm on him. That was how Heero found himself sitting inside the bunker and looking out through a shimmering blue bubble as Harry walked to the center of the cave and pointed his wand at the northern wall.

Heero glanced between the boy and the wall a couple of times as Harry waved his wand about in a seemingly random pattern and sharply called out, "_Defodio._"

The next thing he knew there was a flash of bright light before a five foot by five foot section of the northern wall simply disintegrated with a concussive force greater than or equal to a single blast from Wing's buster rifle and what he thought had been explosions was actually the cracking of displaced air rapidly filling the section of destroyed wall that shook the ground under the abrupt change in pressure. The force of the spell sent a few minor rock chips flying but for the most part whatever was hit by the light of the spell was instantly turned into dust.

He watched Harry cast the spell an additional eight times, moving the northern wall back an additional three feet, before the boy lowered his wand and turned around to stare at Heero. After a full minute, Harry lifted his wand once more and pointed it at the northern wall as he continued to stare right at Heero as a dark look passed over the kid's face. Heero frowned, wondering what the kid was playing at when he heard Harry scream out, "_Deprimo Maxima,_" at the top of his lungs and Heero's eyes were drawn to the huge red wave of energy that flew across the cave.

The moment the blast of light and magic hit the wall an actual explosion rocked the entire cave as two feet of rock along the entire length of the northern wall buckled beneath the force of the spell. Heero felt an icy coldness grip his spine and heart as he glanced back at Harry and saw the boy still glaring at him with undisguised loathing and blind fury. That last spell had been meant to pass a message on to Heero, it was Harry's way of saying 'I am not weak' while at the time promising Heero a rather quick and messy death the first chance he got.

Swallowing thickly, Heero nodded to Harry knowing the kid would know that he understood the message that he'd just been given. Harry glared at him for a full minute in return and then promptly turned his back on Heero as he used the first spell to clear the rocks and other debris from the powerful blast out of the cave before he walked over to the bunker, canceled the protective spells, and promptly destroyed said bunker.

"Har…ry…" Heero croaked out before he paused to clear his throat before trying again. "Harry, I owe you an apology for the way I treated you yesterday after I discovered my Gundam on the beach. I am here on Earth as part of a small rebellion in order to prevent a war from breaking out between the Alliance and the Colonies and I had feared my cover had been blown when I saw my Gundam sitting in front of your cave. I was trained as a soldier for many years and I didn't stop to take into consideration that you were just a civilian child when I should have."

"Will you release me from my oath?"

"No… not until the threat of war has passed. Regardless of your age, you are too young to be left on your own in a world threatened by war and your oath is the only insurance I have that you will listen to me."

"Then you can take your bloody apology and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. I don't need you, your pity, or your help and I refuse to assuage your guilt," Harry spat back as he stormed out of the cave.

"Damn it," Heero growled as he dashed after the kid.

Harry must have either heard him or sensed him because the kid glanced back over his shoulder once before he took off running. Heero had to admit the damn kid was fast (despite his injuries); he practically flew over the sand as they slipped outside of the wards without either of them realizing it. Heero was in damn good shape (not counting his lingering bruises from his crash landing just two days earlier and where Harry's hands and feet had hit him the day before during their short scuffle) but his weight when compared to that of the smaller and lighter Harry worked against him as they ran across the sand.

He started cursing as he noticed the kid pulling further away from him when he realized all he needed to do was order him to stop running, "Harry, stop!"

Heero breathed a sigh of relief as the boy skidded to a stop and swung around to face him, his face twisted up in anger and fear as he glared defiantly back at Heero. Slowing to a trot, Heero closed the distance between the two of them and opened his mouth in order to address the kid when he watched the look on Harry's face transform into one of sheer terror as he fell on his butt and began scrambling backwards.

Heero frowned, wondering why the kid was suddenly so frightened of him, only to pick up on the fact that Harry wasn't actually looking at him but at something behind him the moment a huge shadow fell over the two of them. Whirling around, Heero whipped out his pistol and pointed it at the new threat only to give out a mental groan when he realized he was staring at a mobile suit that looked just enough like Wing that it couldn't be anything but another Gundam.

"_Drop your weapon and step away from da kid._"

"Harry, when I tell you to, I want you to run as fast as you can and get back inside of your cave where you will be safe. I will distract the pilot to give you the time to get out of here."

"You can't fight against that thing!" Harry protested hotly. "I don't need you to save me."

"Don't be an idiot, whoever is piloting it obviously wants you for some reason and I refuse to allow you to be captured or hurt."

"_I repeat, drop your weapon and step away from da kid before I am forced ta kill ya._"

Heero backed up and turned so he could take a quick glance at Harry and found the kid staring up at the Gundam with an unreadable look on his face. Harry then glanced in his direction and Heero saw something in the kid's gaze harden as he climbed slowly to his feet.

"Get ready to run."

"No," Harry countered in a cold, hard voice as he moved his gaze beyond Heero to glare up at the Gundam suit looming threateningly above them as he reached up and pressed a hand to his chest. "I am not going to allow anyone else to die because of me. I hate you… I will kill you some day… but I will not allow you to die for me; you haven't earned that right."

"That makes no fucking sense, kid; you need to get the hell out of here because that suit can kill you with a single shot."

"No…" Harry repeated before he dropped his hand away from his chest again as he aimed his wand at the Gundam as the pilot of the suit activated the beam weapon his suit carried, a huge blade of pure energy forming the blade of what looked to be a scythe. "I'm not afraid of death."

Heero saw the blade of energy descending towards them and he dropped his gun as he threw himself at Harry in the hopes that he'd knock the boy out of the path of the deadly weapon. To his alarm, Harry jumped back out of his reach and cried out, "_Expelliarmus_!" as his wand fired a spell at the incoming weapon and Heero rolled over onto his back as he followed the trajectory of the red spell. His eyes about near popped out of his head as the light of the spell crashed into the arm that was wielding the scythe and sent the beam weapon spinning off into the sky before it crash down onto the beach about ten yards behind Harry.

"I won't allow you or anyone else to die for me!" Harry hissed as he threw an angry glare at Heero before facing the Gundam once more. "_Stupefy_!"

A second red light went sizzling passed Heero and this time hit the Gundam right in the chest and Heero gaped in astonishment as he witnessed the spell knock the Gundam off balance as the entire suit began sparking before it shorted out completely and crashed backwards onto the beach. Heero then swung his head back around to stare at Harry as if seeing him for the first time.

"You have no right to die for me," Harry whispered fiercely before he keeled over face first into the sand; his body pushed to extreme exhaustion from the amount of magic he'd put into his spells in order to disarm and disrupt the Gundam so soon after his destructive display in the cave on top of his recent injuries. Then there was the fact that he'd been in a constant state of near exhaustion over the past two and a half days, was dealing with the emotional turmoil from everything that had happened since finding Heero on the beach, and the warning his magic had given him for actively fighting against a direct order and his oath for a second time until he exploited one of the loopholes he'd left himself.

Heero scrambled up onto his feet and hurried over to Harry's side.

* * *

**AN:** _What a busy chapter; getting everything to flow in some sort of order so as to get everyone where they needed to, when they needed to be there was a pain in the… well difficult. I also had to pull facts from various websites in order to account for the information that came from Endless Waltz or Episode Zero (both of which I have not seen or read). Now, I know there are a few things that will stand out as being wrong or different but those apparent 'mistakes' were intentional (such as the scientists assigning the numbers to the pilots rather than Lady Une and OZ). _

_I also tried my best to keep all of the pilots in character here, though I think I failed with Wufei. For some reason, Wufei is extremely difficult for me to write as I have a hard time relating to his character. I've read a lot of fanfics going on and on about his 'justice rants' but I just can't seem to write him as being that anal retentive (no offense intended, I can understand Wufei's canon character, I just can't write him that way). So out of all five pilots you can expect him to be the one that is least likely to stay in character and the pilot to get the least amount of screen time (though I didn't completely marginalize him and he still plays a big role in the story – we just won't see much of the story from his POV). _

_Now, I'm certain most of you who are familiar with the series will recognize which pilot I'm introducing to Harry next; since I wasn't really trying to hide his identity or anything. The only reason I'm bringing attention to him right now is because I have chosen to have his verbal responses reflect the fact that he grew up on the streets. Don't worry though, I've chosen to limit what words he'll be mangling so that it doesn't kill the readability of his dialogue. It's mostly just to distinguish him from the other pilots and represents a link to his past. _

_One last thing… quite a few people seemed to think that just because Harry swore the oath to Heero that Harry's life is over. I'd like to take the time to point out that canon Harry was ambitious enough and cunning enough for the Hat to consider placing him in Slytherin. And while his Slytherin side seemed to die after he was placed in Gryffindor, it didn't get wiped out completely. There is a method to my madness and the exact wording of that oath is very important to keep in mind. And I think that is all I am going to say about the matter least I give away later plot points. _

_Anywho… I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll post the next chapter soon. ~ Jenn_


	7. A Chance Meeting

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 6: A Chance Meeting

The first six hours Duo spent beneath the ocean scanning the immediate area were exceedingly boring and the only reason the normally hyper teen didn't go stark raving mad was because he was busy digging through various data bases for information at the same time as he was scanning the reports that Deathscythe's external sensors generated. He was just contemplating calling Howard to see if there was something else he could do, since he was doubtful that there was anything to be found here if nothing had shown up after six hours, when the sensors started blaring at him as they picked up on some abnormal seismic activity in the area.

"Well would ya look at that?" Duo murmured with a grin.

He spent a few minutes entering commands in order to pull up the suspected epicenter, magnitude, and range of the tremors as well as map out the nearest fault lines only to grow puzzled at the results. Frowning, he adjusted his long range scanners so he could focus on the small island that sat just off the southern coast of Japan less than fifteen miles away and arched an eyebrow in surprise when he saw a plume of what he thought was smoke rising up into the air; a plume of smoke that appeared to be rising up from out of no where.

He entered yet another string of commands into the computer and zoomed in on the area where the smoke was originating even as he engaged the heat sensors hoping to catch a sign of where the explosions were occurring. He scowled because the visual scans were telling him something far different than his seismic scans which didn't quite match with the satellite maps he'd pulled up of this particular island. Before he could complete his initial scans the tremors stopped as suddenly as they began and he twitched in agitation because he still hadn't found the source of the disturbance.

After a few seconds he grinned recklessly as he engaged Deathscythe's systems, sent a message to Howard to let him know he might have found a lead on the missing Gundam, and set a course for the surface and the beach as he muttered, "Well damn… looks like I'm gonna have ta take a peek topside now ta get my answers."

Once he was clear of the water, Duo took Deathscythe up to the top of the cliff right above where the smoke (which he only now realized was actually just dust) could still be seen floating on the afternoon breeze when another huge explosion shook the ground followed by eight more small ones in rapid succession. He cursed because he still couldn't determine where they were coming from and his systems were indicating that he was standing practically right on top of the epicenter but that was impossible… or so he thought.

He was just wondering if there might be an underground base in the area when the largest explosion yet shook the ground followed by several smaller ones that nearly sent Deathscythe over the edge of the cliff as it had caught Duo off guard. He was searching the face of the cliff with the heat sensors when an alarm went off and the system zeroed in on a single body that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere.

"What's this?"

Angling his cameras, he zoomed in on that tiny warm body before switching over from heat sensors to visual scanners and his eyebrows disappeared beneath his bangs as he caught sight of the small kid running on the sand below. He was just wondering what a kid would be doing out here all alone when a second figure appeared in pursuit of the child and Duo's hackles rose as he immediately assumed the older figure was intending to harm the smaller figure given the way the small kid looked as if he was running for his life.

Duo needed no further information as he sprang into action and dropped Deathscythe down from the cliff just as the kid suddenly skidded to a stop and turned around to face his pursuer. Duo cursed as the other individual continued to close the distance about the same time that the kid caught sight of Deathscythe landing gently on the beach (the Hyper Jammer that hid him from most electronic devices not working on the human eye). The older guy caught on quickly and Duo cursed a second time before he scoffed as the man pulled out a pistol and aimed it up at Deathscythe. He'd originally wanted to just cut the man down without being seen and without the kid watching but he supposed he'd just have to improvise.

"Drop your weapon and step away from da kid," Duo ordered after he activated the external communication systems and zoomed in so he could read the man's face only to find himself shocked for a second time when he realized that it was another teen facing him. Curious now, Duo leaned forward as he listened to the teen giving orders to the kid.

"_Harry, when I tell you to, I want you to run as fast as you can and get back inside of your cave where you will be safe. I will distract the pilot to give you the time to get out of here._"

"_You can't fight against that thing!_" the kid, whom Duo assumed was named Harry, protested hotly. "_I don't need you to save me._"

"_Don't be an idiot, whoever is piloting it obviously wants you for some reason and I refuse to allow you to be captured or hurt._"

"Well damn, I feel like I'm in da middle of a soap opera," Duo muttered to himself before he opened the line a second time and stated, "I repeat, drop your weapon and step away from da kid before I am forced ta kill ya."

Duo watched as the teen backed up and turned to glance at the kid while the kid on the other hand was ignoring the teen completely as he stared up at Duo (or rather at Deathscythe) with an unreadable look on his face. The kid then glanced to the teen that had been chasing him before slowly climbing to his feet and Duo found himself curious as to what the kid was planning when he noticed the hard look on the kid's face.

"_Get ready to run,_" the teen ordered firmly.

"_No_," the kid countered in a cold, hard voice as he moved his eyes passed the other teen to glare up at the Gundam suit while clutching at his chest as if he was in pain and Duo found himself unconsciously leaning backwards away from that glare. "_I am not going to allow anyone else to die because of me. I hate you… I will kill you some day… but I will not allow you to die for me; you haven't earned that right._"

Duo whistled in appreciation of the kid's spunk as the part of him that remembered what living on the streets was like nodded in complete understanding.

"_That makes no fucking sense, kid; you need to get the hell out of here because that suit can kill you with a single shot._"

"He's right, kiddo, best ya leave so ya don't have ta see what I'm about ta do," Duo whispered as he activated his beam scythe and prepared to end the confrontation. He was a bit surprised when the kid ignored the other teen and leveled some kind of weapon at him which had Duo shaking his head because there was no weapon that small that could damage Deathscythe.

"_No… I'm not afraid of death._"

Duo was never quite certain exactly what happened next as one minute he was looking to scare the two kids down on the beach (or at least chase the younger one off) as he swung his suit's main beam weapon and the next his scythe was flying through the air and the right arm of Deathscythe wasn't responding to his commands after being struck by a red light. He was busy cursing up a storm as he scrambled to find out what had happened and what was wrong with his suit when he picked up the kid's next words and his eyes were drawn back to the visual feed of the two individuals on the beach.

"_I won't allow you or anyone else to die for me! __**Stupefy**__!_"

For a split second it seemed as if the kid was looking right at Duo before a red light flew from the kid's weapon and hit Deathscythe right in the chest, flooding the entire cockpit with red light. Duo cried out in shock as he felt his Gundam shift off balance as all of the electronics in the suit began sparking and smoking before the entire thing shut down and toppled over backwards. Duo was thrown around in his harness as the heavy suit crashed to the ground and he groaned as some of the gadgets he kept in the cockpit pelted him as the electromagnetic currents that normally kept them securely in place failed along with everything else.

Knowing he had to escape and get word to Howard that someone out there had the means to take out a Gundam single-handedly (without using mobile suit or military technology), Duo scrambled out of his restraints, grabbed his emergency pack, pulled out his pistol, and disengaged the door manually so he could climb out. He had just climbed up onto Deathscythe's chest when he looked down in time to see the kid that had taken him down pass out. The moment he noticed the other teen's attention was focused solely on the kid, Duo slipped his pack onto his back and jumped down to the ground. He then dashed across the sand on light feet, his long braid flying wildly behind him, as he brought his gun up and slid to a stop beside the teen that was now crouching over the kid.

"Stop! Don't touch da kid and don't move an inch unless I tell ya ta. Put your hands in da air real slow like or I will shoot," Duo ordered coldly as he swept his eyes over the immediate surroundings in search of other hostiles.

"I need to take the kid back to his home," the teen quietly replied in an equally hard tone even as he raised his arms as ordered.

"Ya don't have ta worry about da kid, I'll take care of him," Duo countered with a feral grin. "Besides, seems ta me da kid doesn't much like ya."

"I seriously doubt he's going to like you much better if you forcibly take him away from his home."

"Well, then, I'll just have ta tag along with da two of ya until he wakes and I can tell him how it's gonna be so as he can give his home a proper goodbye. I'm bettin' he'll be glad ta see the last of ya."

"What makes you think he's going to listen to you?"

"I know what it's like livin' on da streets," Duo replied as he prodded the other teen with the gun. "I know exactly how ta deal with kids like him. If ya got any other guns or other weapons on ya, now would be da time ta slowly take them out and drop them on da ground. Now stand up nice and slowly and move away from da kid. That's good; put your hands on da back of your head and step away from da kid."

Once the other teen was far enough away not to present an immediate threat, Duo gathered up the discarded weapons before maneuvering around so he could check on the kid and keep an eye on the teen at the same time. It didn't take him long to find that the kid seemed to be alright if unconscious though the half-healed bruises covering the kid's face, neck, and arms were troubling to say the least. Without letting his gun waver as he kept the teen in his sights, Duo picked up the stick the kid held in one hand and tucked it into his back pocket before he lifted the kid up with one arm and carefully slung him over his shoulder in a fireman hold. He then rose swiftly to his feet and settled the boy's weight more comfortably on his shoulder before returning his attention back to the other teen.

"Lead on, chump," Duo ordered as he gestured to the teen with his gun.

The teen's blue eyes hardened as he glanced towards the small form draped over Duo's shoulder and Duo knew the only reason the other teen would cooperate with him was because Duo had the kid. Duo also knew that the fact that the kid knew how to neutralize a Gundam with one shot using whatever weapon he had was most likely part of the reason the other teen hadn't wanted the kid to fall into the wrong hands; that kind of power could be devastating if the Alliance or worse, OZ, got a hold of the boy's weapon. _This is bad… very bad,_ Duo thought as he continuously scanned the area for threats and worried about what he was going to do about Deathscythe since he couldn't just leave it sitting out in plain sight on the beach.

"Were your communication systems fried?"

Duo frowned as he glanced at the teen walking just a few feet in front of him, "What's it matter ta ya?"

"Because if they weren't it's the only way to get in touch with the rest of the world," the teen replied. "More than half of my systems were fried; including the communication system."

"So, I take it that means you're da pilot of da Gundam that has da Alliance and OZ up in arms," Duo deduced with a grin. "Ya sure stirred up a hornet's nest with your disappearin' act. They had an entire fleet off shore scourin' da bottom of da ocean for your Gundam before I dealt with them."

"Damn it… and you probably alerted the entire damn Alliance to our presence here the moment you destroyed that fleet before dropping down on this stretch of beach; which means we're pretty much sitting ducks now."

"Hey, don't go blamin' me for ya current predicament; all I did was track da explosions ya were setting off just a bit ago. Ya can't blame me for da red flags ya were throwin' up all over da place while ya were shaken things up with whatever it was ya were doin'. I seriously doubt that I was da only one ta notice da irregular seismic activity in da area."

"The loss of their search fleet is going to be a far bigger red flag and your Gundam is going to stick out like a sore thumb the moment they fly over the area."

"Really? Ya think?" Duo sarcastically shot back. "Can't exactly fire him up right now and tuck him away in a nice convenient cave, ya know. In case ya didn't notice, this little bundle of dynamite shut me down faster than any woman I ever propositioned in da bar."

"Kind of hard not to notice," the teen replied softly. "I had no idea he could do something like that."

Duo openly scoffed when he heard that declaration, there was no way the other teen hadn't had some idea of what kind of weapons the kid had on hand given the rather strange conversation he'd overheard earlier.

"You got a tarp or something you can use to hide your suit?"

"Not with me, no; I usually drop him in da water ta hide him but until I can get his systems back on-line that ain't gonna happen."

"Shit. Figures that would be the way my luck was running today. And the brat is without a doubt going to blame me when the shit hits the fan."

"What's da kid ta ya anyway?"

"Someone to whom I am indebted. He's also someone I've sworn to protect."

"Right… pull da other one, buddy. If'n ya owe da kid then why was he runnin' from ya and why's da kid hate ya so much if you're da one lookin' out for him?"

"Long story; not that it's any of your business."

"Does it have anything ta do with da half-healed bruises coverin' his face and neck?" Duo asked in a voice that could cut through diamonds it was so cold and hard as he hefted said kid a little higher up on his shoulder. Duo scowled as he noticed the other teen flinch a bit and knew the other teen was responsible and he growled out, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill ya where ya stand."

"Because the kid is the only one capable of hiding your Gundam and while he might hate me, I am the only one he will listen to. There's also the fact that the kid's home is the only place on this island where you would be safe from OZ and the Alliance and since the kid is unconscious, I'm the only chance you have of finding the kid's home. Without me and the kid, you and your suit will be picked up sometime within the next three to five hours unless your Gundam magically reboots itself."

"Damn… guess da shinigami won't be sendin' ya ta meet your maker just yet," Duo huffed as he gestured for the other teen to start walking again as he finally noticed they'd drifted to a stop at some point during their conversation. "I'll tell ya right now, ya ever lay a hand on da kid again and I will kill ya. Ain't right, hittin' a kid like that."

The cold teen didn't bother responding but Duo new he'd gotten the message loud and clear based upon the slight stiffening of the teen's shoulders. Satisfied for the moment, and knowing he could always interrogate the teen once they were somewhere a little more secure; Duo scanned the beach in front of them as he searched for some sign of the kid's home.

After a few minutes, Duo's impatient nature got the better of him as he demanded, "How much farther do we gotta go?"

"We're close… I think."

Duo was about to respond when he felt the kid stirring on his shoulder and he stopped in his tracks and crouched down so he could set the kid down on the ground. He instinctively knew that the kid would only panic if he woke up to find himself being carried by a stranger (something he himself would have done if their positions had been reversed). A few feet in front of him he saw the other teen glance back over his shoulder, stop and turn back, and take a few steps closer and Duo automatically swung his gun up to silently instruct the teen to keep his distance while keeping one eye on the kid. Once he was certain the other teen wasn't going to interfere, Duo allowed himself to study the kid that had taken on a Gundam practically barehanded and won.

Despite the discoloration from the healing bruises, it was easy to see the kid was pale; as if he spent most of his time inside which suggested that the kid might not be the street rat Duo had pegged him as in the beginning but appearances could be deceptive. His messy hair was dark as sin and saturated with dust and sand which led Duo to believe he'd been caught up in the earlier explosions; a fact that was supported by the tiny cuts and scratches on his bare arms and face. His clothes, which while a little too big for the kid, were relatively new looking if you looked past the dust that clung to them and the few minor tears from where stone chips might have hit him and he wore no shoes.

If Duo had to guess his age, he'd put him somewhere around nine or ten as he knew living on the street (or apparently out in the wilderness given that he was on what was supposed to be an uninhabited island) tended to stunt one's growth; something he himself was well aware of since he was rather short for his age. About the time Duo finished his visual assessment of the kid; said kid opened his eyes and stared up at Duo with surprisingly green eyes that reminded Duo of leaves. A quick glance up to make certain the other teen was behaving and then Duo was giving his attention back to the kid as a ready smile tugged at his lips.

Usually, when he smiled other people couldn't help but smile back as Duo had what Father Maxwell used to call an irresistible and infectious smile. The kid however didn't even try to hold back an answering smile. He had shown mild confusion when he first opened his eyes, a touch of uncertainty when Duo smiled at him, and then the kid's eyes had flicked up to the gun Duo was pointing at the other teen, tilted his head back to look at said teen, and turned back to glare at Duo with anger before his face went blank.

"Hey, kiddo, name's Duo Maxwell; I might run and hide but I never tell a lie, that's me in a nut shell," Duo stated as he held out his hand to the kid. He had hoped the kid would introduce himself in return but hadn't really expected him to since it was easy to see the kid didn't trust anyone. "I'm glad ta see you're awake, I was a little worried ya might have hurt yourself when ya keeled over da way ya did. Ya were gettin' a bit heavy too."

"What do you want with me?"

"Ah, right ta da point there. I don't suppose ya'd believe me if I said I just wanted ta give ya a hand after seein' ya runnin' from da cold hearted bastard that was chasin' ya." The snort the kid gave in response to that sentence spoke volumes. "As unbelievable as it is that is da truth; looked ta me like ya didn't seem all too fond of da guy chasin' ya about da beach. Ya think ya might be up ta walkin' for a bit? I'd like to check out your home and if ya got a phone I need ta make a call ta a friend of mine so I can get Deathscythe under wraps before he attracts a bit more attention than I'd like."

"Heero…?"

"I can't help you, Harry," the other teen interjected making Duo assume that his name was Heero. "Maxwell here is holding all the cards right now."

"Well ain't that just peachy," Harry muttered as he sent an angry glare at the newly named Heero. "I swear someone up in heaven must really hate me. That or I must have a huge damn sign or something painted on my back that says I'm a glutton for punishment." Harry paused mid-rant and stared up at Duo with a calculating gaze that left Duo feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to do the world a favor and just kill me now, would you?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind helpin' ya out," Duo stated thinking the kid wanted him to deal with the other teen only to blanch when the kid's actual words finally registered in his mind. "What da hell do ya mean, kill ya!? Ain't no way things can be as bad as all that! I'll gladly put da jerk out of mine and your misery but ya ain't got no call ta be askin' me ta pop off a little mite like yourself."

"Didn't think so but I had to ask to know for sure," Harry sighed as he closed his eyes for a moment before he turned his head to the side to stare out at the ocean. "Of course, that's the way my luck always runs. It was almost peaceful here for a while; no busybodies, no manipulative old men, no sick and twisted teachers lurking in the shadows, no shrill voices demanding anything from me, no backstabbing ungrateful liars pretending they're my friends, and no heartless godfathers looking to chuck me out the door at the first opportunity. Then I had to go and screw everything up because I thought I needed a purpose. What do I get instead? Stupid gigantic robots big enough to squash me like a bug and annoying murderous teens with guns invading my beach and ordering me about left and right."

Duo knew he should have expected it, he was street smart enough and the teen, Heero, had in fact warned him in a round about way but he was still caught off guard when the kid suddenly lashed out at him. He'd also still been agitated by the kid asking him to kill him and confused by the seemingly odd rant the kid had been on and was therefore slow to react. One second the kid was ranting up a storm and the next he was striking out with a viciousness Duo would have expected from the other teen. The kid was smart about it too; he'd gone straight for the hand that was holding the gun while lashing out with his feet at the same time, knocking Duo over backwards because he'd been balanced precariously on his feet as he crouched on the shifting sand.

As they grappled, Duo half expected the boy to claim the gun and shoot him but the kid merely tossed it as far away as he could in the short instant he had hold of the weapon. He'd then stopped fighting completely and Duo used the kid's lack of resistance to gain the upper hand as he pinned the kid to the ground only to freeze when he felt the barrel of his gun pressing against his temple. Duo silently cursed himself as he realized that not only did he allow a kid half his age to get the drop on him but he'd completely forgotten about the other teen during the brief fight. The extra guns that he'd collected from the other teen were quickly reclaimed by said teen just second later.

"Get up and step away from the kid," Heero ordered coldly. "You alright, Harry?"

"Oh yes, just dandy," Harry growled just under his breath as he stood up and swayed on his feet before he shook his head like a dog and glared at both teens. Duo paled slightly as his eyes landed on the fresh blood that was blossoming on the side of the kid's shirt and right pant leg and the fifteen year old instantly realized that he must have opened up a series of wounds the kid had during their short scuffle. Before he could apologize to the boy though, the kid hissed in pain or anger as he stalked forward and dug the stick he'd been holding earlier out of Duo's pocket before shuffling back out of Duo's reach as he inspected the stick as if looking to see if it had been damaged. "Thank Merlin… I don't think I could have fixed it if he'd broken it and the others I have aren't very good matches."

"That's good I suppose," Heero stated. "Now I just have to figure out what to do with him and his Gundam."

"Just let him go… he'll never get inside."

"He knows how to find this beach again, Harry. He was tracking you through the explosions you were making as you expanded the cave. He can find you again. Chances are he probably led the people he said he found looking for me and my Gundam here as well; not surprising since I wasn't the only one to escape alive after my battle the other day."

Harry's green eyes darkened as he glanced between Duo and the downed robot before looking out at the sea again. Duo could almost feel the boy thinking as he digested the rather accurate assumptions that Heero had seemingly pulled out of thin air.

"Your point?"

The question was asked in a belligerent tone that would have irritated Duo if it had been directed at him and at the same time it made Duo want to laugh because it obviously annoyed the teen holding him at gunpoint as well. If not for his current predicament, Duo might have just sat back and watched the by-play between the two because he was certain it would be entertaining.

"I need to find out what he knows, who he's talked to, and figure out how to hide his Gundam; otherwise we are going to be found. Which means you are going to have to let him through and I'm probably going to need your help moving the suit since it seems you fried his systems when you hit him with what ever it was you fired at him."

"I'd still rather leave him out here," Harry groused as he glared at both teens. "Bad enough you invaded my home. I should have left you out on the beach too; then I wouldn't have to worry about any of this shit. You going to do to him what you did to me to get him to talk?"

"No," Heero replied softly and Duo could hear the honest contrition in his tone and Duo's mind shifted that information back and forth as he calmly waited for a chance to turn the tables on his captors once again. "Will you be able to move his Gundam the same way you moved mine?"

"Sort of… but not for at least another four hours unless I take a few potions but if I do that then my exhaustion will be ten times worse afterwards. Do you think we have four hours…?"

"No… best not to chance it. Let's get our friend inside, check on your injuries as you're bleeding again, get you something to eat, and then you can take whatever you need to do whatever it is you do. You have anything I can use to secure our friend once we're inside?"

"I can get you ropes or chains but not until I'm rested and if you want me to move the robot you're going to have to wait because I can't do both without more time."

"Mobile suits, Harry, they are not robots. They are called mobile suits; think of them as being special planes," Heero corrected as he prodded Duo into moving.

"Whatever… I could care less what they're called. I just don't want the huge piles of junk making my life any more miserable than they already have."

"Oy! Deathscythe is not a hunk of junk, brat! He's a state of da art mobile suit!" Duo protested defensively.

"Fat lot of good it's doing parked out on the sand as it is," Heero snidely taunted. "I should be able to scrounge a few parts off it to fix mine though."

"Ya keep your hands off my Gundam ya insensitive jerk."

Harry snorted before suddenly ripping off two long sections of his shirt from around the bottom hem and Duo frowned when he caught a flash of a blood stained bandages before the shirt dropped back down. He then became indignant when Heero used one scrap of fabric to blindfold him while the other was used to secure his hands behind his back. He didn't like not knowing where he was going as it made it that much harder to sneak back out.

When he was next allowed to see his surroundings, Duo found himself inside of a cave that didn't quite look natural (the lines of the room far too geometric and smooth) and was only sparsely furnished with stone furniture. He was quite uncomfortable when he realized that there didn't seem to be an exit and his mood soured as his chances of escape from his insane hosts just plummeted. He frowned at the pile of feathers he noted in one corner, they seemed so out of place when compared to the rest of the room, and then promptly forgot them as he glanced into what he supposed was the kitchen area as he saw Harry vanish into the trunk sitting beside the rather short counter.

_Just what da hell is goin' on here?_ Duo wondered as he tried not to gape, especially when the kid came back out fifteen minutes later carrying a plate of sandwiches, two large bags of chips, and three bottles of what looked like beer at first glance.

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**AN:** _Poor Duo… he was only trying to help. _

_I'll apologize now for those of you who were expecting Heero and Duo to shoot each other or get in a fist fight; both pilots were worried about Harry getting caught in the crossfire since he was down for the count, so to speak. I also figured that there was more than enough drama going on without adding any more bloodshed. _

_Anywho, I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone who has left a review or added this story to their favorite/alert lists. If I didn't answer your review it was not because I was ignoring you but because I can never keep track of which reviews I have answered and which ones I haven't due to the way has things set up. Next chapter will be posted tomorrow since I skipped posting on Thursday as I had originally planned. ~ Jenn_


	8. The Trouble with Magic

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 7: The Trouble with Magic

After Harry brought up the sandwiches he'd made, he deposited them on the table alongside the chips and drinks and grabbed one of the bottles of butterbeer he'd brought up. He stared down at that little reminder of home for several long minutes before he opened it and took a sip. Memories of his first time drinking butterbeer with Ron and Hermione just over three years earlier flashed through his mind before he could suppress them and he felt the familiar ache of loss that always accompanied memories of his one time friends followed by the bitter aftertaste of betrayal.

Any warmth that Harry normally would have felt when drinking butterbeer was buried beneath the weight of knowing that after third year Ron had no longer been his friend (if he had ever in fact been Harry's friend). Only the fact that he'd had close to two years to come to terms with Ron's bitter jealousy and backstabbing lies and the knowledge that Hermione hadn't betrayed him as well (as far as he knew) prevented him from giving into the rage and grief that often reared up whenever Harry was reminded of his one time friend. Shoving aside the hurt in his heart, Harry slammed his bottle of butterbeer down on the table harder than necessary, making both taller teens jump at the unexpectedly loud sound.

He purposely ignored the stares of both teens and the concern that filled Heero's gaze as he turned his back on the virtual strangers and stalked out of the room while ignoring the growing pain in his knee as best he could. He absolutely hated not being in full control his emotions and he was ultimately thankful that he wasn't throwing around accidental magic each time he got blindsided by painful memories like he had during the first six months of his isolation. He had no desire to find out how negatively Heero or the other teen would react to seeing him destroy every piece of furniture in the room (which he'd done more than once and the reason he didn't use any of the furniture from his trunks) or heaven forbid if he blew one of them up like he had Aunt Marge prior to his third year.

Limping down the stairs to his supply trunk, Harry shoved his agitation to the back of his mind as he headed for the shelf of potions and grabbed a Pepper-Up Potion, a Strengthening Solution, a Rejuvenation Draught, and after reflecting on the pain he felt radiating from his injuries due to his earlier recklessness (something he'd been trying to ignore since he'd woken up from his exhaustion induced faint) a mild pain relieving potion. A glance down at his now blood soaked shirt had him grabbing a fresh roll of gauze and a vial of Blood Replenisher that he immediately drank to start replacing the blood he was stilling losing.

Next he headed over to where he kept the few changes of clothes he'd resized and grabbed a clean shirt and another pair of pants. After recalling the state of Heero's and Duo's clothes, he also grabbed two sets of the clothes he had not yet resized (because he was optimistic that he would grow and not forever be stuck in the body of an eight year old) and another set of sheets and blankets since he didn't know how long Heero would keep the other teen around while he was questioning him.

Harry then growled when he realized he was carrying too much and he couldn't even use his wand to manage everything because he had to save up his energy to move the stupid robot and it would destabilize the spells on the trunk. Annoyed again, Harry set everything he was carrying down on the floor and then picked up the potions to tuck into his pockets before neatly stacking the clothes inside of the blankets and rolling it up into a tight bundle that was slightly easier to handle. He prayed there was nothing else he would need because he didn't think he could stand making another trip into one of the trunks because of how tired and sore he was at the moment.

Opening the lid of the trunk so he could climb out, Harry nearly tumbled backwards in shock as he unexpectedly came face to face with Heero. Once he regained his balance, Harry glared at the teen and pushed him out of the way so he could step out of the trunk. To his horror, he stumbled as his knee buckled from the stress of climbing up yet another set of stairs. Heero moved nearly as fast as a professional Seeker on a broom and the next thing Harry knew he was once again being carried. Harry, as usual, took immediate offense and began struggling.

"Let me go! Can't you just leave me alone!? Put me down you… you… half-rotten flobberworm carcass!"

"Harry, stop fighting me. Must we go through this every time I pick you up in order to prevent you from hurting yourself further?" Heero demanded wearily as Harry resentfully stilled in his arms thanks to the direct order but continued glaring up at him. "Never mind, stupid question."

"I told you, I don't need your help or your pity and in this case it's your fault anyway."

"Stubborn brat."

"Why don't ya pick on someone your own size?" Duo growled loudly from where he was he was sitting in the kitchen area watching them with a scowl.

"I didn't ask for your help either," Harry hissed as he glared at the other teen. "You're just as much to blame as Heero for my current condition because you had to butt in where you weren't wanted!"

"Damned if I do and damned if I don't," Duo huffed as he rolled his eyes and shifted uncomfortably on the chair due to his hands still being tightly secured behind his back. "Maybe ungrateful brat would be a more apt description, no?"

"I'd be extremely grateful if you both disappeared," Harry countered in a sweet voice that dripped with sarcasm and undisguised hope before he glared up at Heero. "Now will you put me down?"

"Only if you promise to sit still while I check on your injuries."

Harry growled and crossed his arms over the bundle of clothes and blankets as he contemplated the merits of offering the requested promise as opposed to ignoring it and just waiting for Heero to grow bored. He then remembered the robot sitting outside of his wards and grimaced as he as he looked up to meet Heero's gaze as he replied, "I'll sit still if you promise to not touch me."

"How am I supposed to clean and re-bandage all of your injuries (and you can't tell me they don't need it because I can see the blood soaking your shirt just as easily as you can) if you don't allow me to touch you?"

Harry huffed and crossed his arms as he hunched in on himself but said nothing further and made no move to fight Heero as the teen instructed him to remove his pants so he could take care of Harry's knee first. Harry was at least thankful that Heero hadn't tried to help with the undressing part. Just before letting the pilot clean the still gaping wound on Harry's knee, Harry drank both the pain relieving potion to dull the pain. Heero then worked quickly to clean the injury before applying a fresh bandage.

Once he was finished tending Harry's knee; he moved on to deal with the scrapes on Harry's right thigh. He then helped Harry remove his shirt (much to Harry's disgruntlement) and peeled off the soaked bandages wrapped around Harry's chest and back. Harry shot a scowl in direction of the long haired teen as the other pilot began cursing loud and long as the teen took in the state of Harry's half-healed wounds while Heero cleaned them, applied the healing ointment, and rewrapped them.

Twenty minutes later, a much cleaner Harry was sitting at the table across from the recently untied Duo as he ate a sandwich and drank his butterbeer. Heero had chosen to sit on the counter behind Harry where he could keep an eye on both Harry and Duo and Harry couldn't help but scrunch his shoulders up every time he felt Heero's eyes boring a hole in his back. Lined up on the table in front of him were the last three potions he still needed to take.

The long haired pilot was constantly frowning at those potions and Harry couldn't help but silently snicker each time the teen glanced at them as he tried to figure out what they were (Heero's body having previously blocked the teen's view of Harry drinking the pain potion earlier). Duo also continuously tried to engage Harry and Heero in a conversation only to end up complaining to himself and making petulant observations when neither of them responded to his attempts; all of which made Harry's fingers inch to hex the teen.

Finishing the last bite of his half sandwich, Harry turned to look over his shoulder and waited for Heero to nod in permission; the teen had been insistent that Harry eat a set amount before being allowed to take the potions he needed. Harry, in turn, had argued against eating too much as his stomach had been bruised when Heero had punched him which meant he couldn't even eat as much as he normally did without making his stomach hurt. And Harry had never been a big eater thanks to the Dursleys frequently withholding food for the majority of his childhood.

Harry reached out and opened the first vial and openly smirked as Duo sat up straighter and stared at Harry intently. He was half tempted to clink the vial against the half-empty butterbeer bottle that Duo was drinking from but instead simply downed the Pepper-Up Potion in one go and shuddered as he felt steam pour out of his ears. The look on Duo's face was rather comical and this time Harry couldn't quite suppress the snicker he let out as a quick glance over his shoulder revealed the same expression on Heero's face; that being the first time the teen had seen the results of Harry taking that particular potion.

Ignoring both teens, Harry quickly downed the Strengthening Solution and snickered again as they stared at him intently; both of them obviously expecting further special effects. Harry then stood up, gathered up the two empty vials (no sense leaving them around so his unwanted guests could study the potions inside) and stretched out his back, arms, and shoulders before pulling out his wand and giving it an experimental twirl as he searched inwards for a response from his magic. When he felt the sluggish tugging that indicated his reserves were still too low (most of his available magic struggling to heal his numerous injuries), Harry scowled and slipped the wand back into his back pocket before looking to Heero and shaking his head.

"Too soon still," Harry muttered as he reached out and picked up the Rejuvenation Potion that he'd hoped to avoid taking because while it boosted the amount of magic he had available it also made his exhaustion ten times worse when it wore off and he'd already taken it three times already over the past two days.

"How much longer do you need?"

"Twenty minutes… maybe," Harry replied pensively after downing the potion. He then scowled down at the ground for a full minute as he felt the need to explain, "I've never pushed myself quite so far since I ended up on this Merlin cursed beach and I wasn't exactly in the best of conditions to start with; I'm actually surprised I'm not still unconscious to tell you the truth. By rights I should have been out for at least three days straight after the last two days, my demonstration in the cave, and dropping the stupid bot on top of my injuries, the amount of blood I've lost, and the perpetual exhaustion I've been feeling since I first pulled the robots out of the ocean."

"Go lay down and rest for a bit then; I'll come wake you in an hour unless something comes up sooner."

Harry scowled and glared at the teen but complied as he headed to the couches by the desk instead of the bed since he didn't want to get too comfortable right now because he feared he'd have nightmares again after everything that had happened over the past few days. Curling up in the corner of the couch that was sitting perpendicular to the wall with his back to the wall (to insure that no one would be able to sneak up behind him), Harry closed his eyes and slowly relaxed enough to fall into a light doze that allowed him to remain somewhat aware of his surroundings.

It was a skill left over from his years of living in the cupboard beneath the stairs when any one of his relatives could turn up in an instant to order him to complete some chore or other demeaning task. Not moving quickly enough at those times had often earned him more than a few slaps and twice as much work so he'd learned to only partially shut his body down instead of actually sleeping. Unfortunately, keeping his consciousness active that way forced his magic to compensate for the lack of proper rest which meant that more of his magic was being tied up in keeping his body functioning. As he hovered somewhere between sleep and consciousness, Harry listened to the near hissed argument going on between the two teens.

"You're allowin' da kid ta take drugs?" Duo's voice cut out cold as steel.

"No… not that it's any of your business."

"It is too my business damn it; he's just a kid. Shit like that screws with both body and mind and he sure da hell doesn't need ya ta be encouragin' him ta take them even if he is already addicted."

"No, it's not any of your business because you don't have a fucking clue as to what you're talking about."

Harry almost snorted in disbelief over Heero's remark, clearly recalling the brunette's reaction the previous afternoon after he'd taken a few potions to wash away the exhaustion he'd felt after spending hours enlarging the other cave. The pint-sized wizard briefly wondered if Heero appreciated the hypocrisy of defending Harry's right to drink the various potions when he'd originally tried to get him to stop taking them first. The moment of contemplation passed quickly as Harry's attention was drawn back to the conversation taking place across the room.

"I don't know if you're too stupid ta realize it but I sat here just da same as ya and watched da kid drink down those three bottles of whatever they were. Ya can't tell me you didn't see it because I saw da look on your face. If those weren't some sort of drug then what were they!?"

"Harry wasn't taking drugs. I thought he was at first too but they are actually a form of homemade medicines that he uses sparingly. Think of them as homeopathic remedies instead of your typical over the counter stuff or the higher grade prescription meds a doctor would prescribe."

"Why da hell didn't ya just say that in da first place?"

"I wanted to know if you were truly concerned over his well-being or if you were simply blowing hot air," Heero replied after a few minutes.

"Ya coulda just asked."

"What would the fun in that be?" Heero flippantly shot back and Harry could easily picture the knowing smirk the teen had to be wearing based upon the blatant humor he could hear in the teen's voice.

"How do ya know ya can trust anything I say?"

"Because, I always know whether or not someone can be trusted; once I knock them off balance to the point where they can't mask their emotions. It's one of the reasons why I grudgingly told Harry to let you in here in the first place. Not that I really trust you or anything but now I know you don't actually mean the kid any harm and that is all that matters," Heero calmly explained before he let out a soft growl as he added, "It would have been nice if I could have relied upon that skill in regards to the runt because it would have saved the kid a lot of grief. Unfortunately, I kept getting mixed readings from the stubborn brat."

Harry frowned and shifted a bit as he tried to figure out what Heero was talking about before forcing his body to relax once more in order to avoid drawing any more attention from either of the taller teens as the silence drew out longer than he expected given the topic of discussion. Heero, at least, had to have been watching him because the moment Harry settled back down, the teen continued on with the conversation; his voice had gone hard and cold as he stated, "It's time for you to answer a few questions."

"You're welcome ta ask but that doesn't mean I'm gonna answer ya."

"Why were you trying to find the Gundam that sank off the coast?"

"None of your business."

"It is my business; it was my Gundam that you were trying to locate."

"Originally it was ta keep it out of OZ's hands," Duo replied after a moment and Harry imagined that Heero had been giving the long haired teen one of his ice cold glares (one of the ones that promised certain death or long drawn out and painful dismemberment). "I also wouldn't have minded havin' it on hand in case I needed replacement parts for my Gundam."

"Who are you working for and how did you know that someone was searching for a downed Gundam in the first place?"

"Who says I'm workin' for anyone? I could simply be workin' on my own. And it's my job ta know what kinda trouble OZ is up ta."

"I know you aren't working alone because I wasn't working alone. The only real question is which scientist worked on creating your Gundam and whether or not you have a contact on earth helping you," Heero replied with certainty; a hint of annoyance lacing his voice.

"I could have simply stolen da suit."

"Only if you were familiar enough with the Gundam in the first place and that would have required working closely with the man who built the suit. And don't think I didn't notice that you didn't deny having a contact here on Earth… which means you do and you just don't want to admit it. Can your man get parts?"

"If I can get in touch with him, yeah; he can get me anything I need."

"What would it take to get you to help me fix my Gundam?"

"I want ta know everything about da weapon da kid used ta shut Deathscythe down; who made it, how many were made, who else might have one, how it works, and how it can be destroyed. I also want ta know how da hell ya were able ta hide your presence because I'd been scannin' everything within five hundred miles of here for a good five or six hours and never once knew ya were here until I got da report of abnormal seismic activity in da area. I'd also need access ta a phone or da internet as well in order ta get in touch with my man and find out what's goin' on outside."

"Can't help you with the communication problem since I'm in the same boat as you right now and there is absolutely no technology here aside from the suits (which if you'll recall aren't exactly working at the moment). Not that it would matter if there was, given that this island hasn't been wired for electricity."

"Ya have got ta be shittin' me. No technology? Who da hell lives without access ta any technology?"

"The kid… for nearly two years now from what little bit I've managed to learn from him."

"Two years without a phone or an internet connection? Without electricity? How is that even possible? Where would he store his food? How does he keep warm? How could anyone live like that?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

"Try me… and I noticed ya never answered my other questions about da weapon or how ya hid this place from pryin' eyes."

"There is no weapon; not in the normal sense anyway," Heero replied and Harry tensed slightly as he heard footsteps approaching the couch where he was resting. "No matter what happens I can't allow anyone in the Alliance, particularly those within the Alliance associated with Organization of the Zodiac, to get their hands on the kid. Hell, if it comes down to it there no way in hell I want anyone getting their hands on the kid no matter whose side they're on; I wouldn't even trust Dr. J not to try and use him at this point."

"And just what is it that makes that boy so special?"

"You recall how easily he took down your suit?"

"That's not exactly something I'm gonna forget any time soon," Duo deadpanned. "I'm still waitin' for ya ta answer my questions regardin' da weapon the kid used."

"That's just it; it wasn't a weapon that neutralized your Gundam. It was the kid," Heero stated from where he stood beside the couch looking down at Harry and Harry (uncomfortable with the feeling of the teen's eyes boring down on him) opened his eyes to stare up at Heero with an unreadable expression on his face as the blue eyed teen continued speaking. "Technically, you could say the kid is the weapon and a weapon is exactly what he would be turned into should anyone get their hands on him and discover just what he can do. That is why I would die to protect him; to save him from becoming a heartless soldier."

"Ya mean ta keep him from becomin' a monster just like us," Duo stated as he moved to stand beside Heero on silent feet and Harry shifted his eyes to stare at the long haired pilot.

"I'm already a monster," Harry whispered without any emotion as he sat up and climbed over the back of the couch in order to put distance between himself and the two pilots. "If the two of you were smart, you'd run as far away from me as you can get and forget you ever saw me before you end up dead or worse."

"Brat, I already told you I wasn't leaving," Heero huffed before he changed the subject as he took in Harry's stubborn and defensive stance. "Did you get enough rest or do we need to wait a little longer?"

"Now is fine… another hour or two or waiting until tomorrow would be even better but you already said we don't have that much time," Harry replied as he turned his back on the two teens and headed towards the east wall.

Slipping out of the cave, Harry scolded himself for his current weaknesses as he walked to the edge of his wards and scanned the beach with his eyes before casting the weakest detection spell he knew in order to make certain there was no one hiding in the immediate area only to flinch when the spell told him there was one person standing a few feet behind him. He sent a glare over his shoulder at Heero (who'd followed to keep an eye on him) before he faced forward again, stepped beyond the ward, and prepared to cast the first spell.

"_Accio weapon_," Harry intoned as he kept a firm picture of the strange energy weapon that the Gundam had tried attacking them with; he was rewarded a few minutes later when the device dropped into the sand at his feet and he grabbed hold of the thing and awkwardly dragged the heavy device backwards into the wards. Heero took it from him a heartbeat later and Harry didn't even bother to scowl at the teen as he stepped back out to deal with the robot. He pointed his wand at the huge machine, closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath as he concentrated on marshalling his magic. Once he was ready, Harry opened his eyes and focused entirely on the task of moving the cumbersome machine.

"_Wingardium Leviosa,_" Harry chanted firmly as he gave his wand a swish and flick; his eyes never leaving the huge robot as his magic wrapped around the machine and lifted it up into the air.

Slowly, so as not to break his concentration, Harry walked backwards into the safety of the wards as he pulled the robot with him, using his wand like a fishing pole or marionette strings in order to make the machine go where he wanted it to. The head and shoulders of the thing had just been pulled through the wards when Harry unexpectedly backed into the green robot. The cold aura the suit radiated washed over Harry and he jerked away from the feeling as he spun around to glare at the unpleasant machine.

Focus broken, Harry lost control of the spell and the Gundam crashed to the ground and Harry growled in frustration because he didn't know if he could muster up enough energy to lift it a second time. Not that it mattered because he didn't know where he was going to hide the damn thing as he just realized that there wasn't enough room on the beach inside of the wards because of the scraps he'd salvaged along with the other two robot machines.

"What happened?"

"No room… not enough… space… because of every… thing else," Harry panted as he folded over in an effort to catch his breath.

"Will it fit in the cave you were making?" Heero inquired as he glanced between Harry, the suit, and the cave in question.

"No… you were in there… earlier; it's no where near… big enough. The robot's far too big… to even fit through the doorway and… I'm in no condition to expand it right now. Hell… I'm not even sure if I could lift the damned pile of junk again right now."

"I think you're going to have to try," Heero replied in a tight voice that instantly caught Harry's attention and the green eyed teen trapped in a child's body glanced up sharply to see the other teen staring out at the ocean. "We don't have any more time."

Whipping around, Harry immediately knew what Heero was talking about as he saw several aircraft rapidly approaching the beach in addition to several more robots and three large ships that Harry guessed would be carrying even more of the robots. Fear crept up Harry's spine as he recalled what Heero had said not that long ago about there being people out there that would not hesitate to turn him into a weapon if they should learn about his magic. Harry half whined and half growled as he snapped around to face the cave he'd been carving out of the cliff and snapped off three high powered and precisely placed blasting curses (the extended and repeated use of the spell over the past two days having given him far more control over that spell than he'd previously had).

The blasting curses were followed by several banishing charms to shove the avalanche of rock and dirt that had once been the face of the cliff hiding the new cave out of the way. He then whipped back around to face the robot, fired a shrinking spell that cut the suit's size in half (something he had half feared wouldn't work), and once again levitated the Gundam. His desperation and determination pulled more power from his core than he thought he had available (given his earlier exhaustion and the amount of magic in the spells he'd just used – most of it being redirected from healing his many injuries) and Harry pulled the robot suit up so that it soared over his and Heero's heads before swinging it around and dropping it down as he banished it into the cave he'd been carving out the cliff.

He never saw Heero jump in astonishment beside him or the wince that crossed the teen's face as the Gundam scraped across the low ceiling as Harry forcefully stuffed the highly advanced mobile suit into the cave by sheer force. He only managed to get about three-quarters of the half shrunken robot into the cave before he ran out of room (the cave far too short and the ceiling towards the back of the cave far too low) and if not for Heero tackling him out of the way at the last minute, they would have been crushed as the machine's feet dropped down practically right where Harry and Heero had been standing.

Harry wasn't really paying attention to the suit any longer though; his eyes now firmly fixed on the mobile suits that had started raining fire on the entire beach as their pilots witnessed the disappearance of the Gundam and, upon thinking the suit was simply cloaked, opened fire in the hopes of pinpointing the location of the now semi-secured suit. And while the men inside of the suits and their technology couldn't penetrate the wards, the blasts of energy they fired could and did; peppering the cliff wall at what would be chest height on a standing suit.

The sheer magnitude of destruction those giant man driven machines made terrified Harry on a level even greater than Heero's threats from the day before. And for the first time since pulling the taciturn and often violent teen off the beach, Harry turned to the other boy and clung desperately to him; seeking comfort from what he deemed was the lesser of two evils. In that instant, Harry was no longer a seventeen year old wizard trapped inside the body of a child; he was simply a boy alone in a world that he didn't understand surrounded by a level of violence that surpassed anything he'd witnessed from Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Two minutes after the first shot had been fired, his mind fled under the combination of terror and complete and utter exhaustion.

* * *

Heero hardly dared to breathe as he held his body protectively over Harry's and watched the Leos finally retreat after they'd damn near blasted apart the entire cliff in their desire to flush out the Gundam. He could hardly believe that they hadn't been found; sitting out in the open like they were just mere feet away from a third of the enemy suits. A swift glance down at Harry showed the kid to be in a state of complete shock; his complexion a pasty gray, his eyes glassy and unfocused, and his body trembling like a leaf. He prayed it wasn't anything more than shock because he had no way of treating the kid if there was something else wrong with him and Heero wasn't sure if the kid was in any condition to lend him even a grudging hand at this point.

"That was far too fucking close for comfort," Heero muttered as sat up and glanced up at the mangled face of the cliff above him. "Hope your hocus pocus tricks don't fail because of that since I suspect this entire island is going to be under very close surveillance for quite some time."

He glanced out at the remains of three Leos that had been destroyed during the one-sided battle and shuddered as he recalled what had happened to those suits the moment they brushed up against the wards. One second the three Leos had been advancing towards the point where Duo's Gundam had last been seen and the next all three suits had short circuited before detonating spectacularly as they were violently flung backwards. If not for their destruction, Heero was certain the Alliance would have retreated over an hour earlier instead of keeping up a continuous barrage of attacks; which included more than one missile being launched from the ships just off the coast. Thankfully, projectile type attacks hadn't been able to penetrate the wards; otherwise Heero doubted they would have survived the ordeal.

"Come on, let's get you inside where you'll be safer (I hope) and get you cleaned up again," Heero stated as he scooped the ornery wizard into his arms and climbed to his feet.

Heero felt a flash of fear that he quickly squashed when the kid didn't react as expected over being picked up. As much as he hated it when Harry fought him he much preferred the kid's spunk when compared to his current near lifelessness. Ignoring the pain snaking across his back from where more than a few rocks had landed on him during the barrage of enemy fire, Heero slowly made his way back to Harry's cave. He was nearly bowled over the moment he stepped inside of the cave by an agitated Duo, who'd been pacing frantically back and forth in front of the cave's hidden entrance (Duo currently not keyed into the wards and therefore unable to see or move beyond the barrier hiding the mouth of the cave).

"Where da hell have ya been for da last two hours? What da hell happened out there? What da hell happened ta da kid? Is he gonna be alright? Did something happen ta my Gundam? Were we under attack or was that something da two of ya were doin'?"

"We were under attack," Heero replied wearily as he glared half-heartedly at the rather obnoxious teen. "They caught sight of your suit before Harry could get it secured and opened fire on us and the cliff. Three of their suits were destroyed and they stuck around correctly guessing we were somewhere in the vicinity before they finally gave up. I have no doubt they'll be watching the beach closely for the next week or two which means we're pretty much stuck here for the time being because otherwise they'll just pick us up the moment we step outside. Your Gundam is safe for now though it might be a little more scratched up than it was before the attack."

"And da kid?"

"Nothing more than a combination of extreme exhaustion and shock, I hope."

"Did ya mean what ya said about it bein' da kid who shut my suit down? And not just some weapon that he found or stole?" Duo asked pensively as blue eyes met blue eyes.

"Yeah… I meant it."

"So… you're sayin' da kid has some kind of Newtype ability?"

"Something like that," Heero hedged as he broke his gaze away from Duo's and carried Harry into the bedroom alcove where he gently settled the almost catatonic kid onto the bed before striping him out of the filthy clothes he was wearing so he could make sure the kid's wounds hadn't been reopened during the ordeal. "He… his abilities are completely unlike anything I have ever seen or heard about and I am certain I've only seen the smallest fraction of what he can do."

"What's gonna happen ta da kid when ya get your next mission?" Duo asked as he crossed his arms and stared down at the unresponsive kid while leaning against the wall; his sharp blue eyes taking in the numerous bruises and scrapes peeking out from under the wealth of bandages now that he was close enough to clearly see the full extent of the kid's injuries.

Heero looked up sharply at Duo before he returned his attention back to what he was doing, his shoulders tense as he thought back to the decision he'd come to after the realization that he'd come close to losing his humanity the night before. He worked silently for a while before he gently tucked Harry beneath the covers and softly ordered the boy to get so sleep; relieved to see the kid's magic (what a strange thing to call the kid's power) enforce the order as his eyes drifted closed. Heero then stood and watched Harry for a full minute before he looked up to find Duo watching him with calculating blue eyes.

"I'm not planning on accepting any more missions," Heero finally stated. "From this point forward I will fight against OZ my own way. I might occasionally be willing to take out a target that would have likely ended up as a mission but I won't just blindly accept whatever order is sent my way." He broke his gaze away and looked back down at Harry before adding. "I'm also dismantling the auto-destruct sequence on my Gundam because I have a feeling that I'll never again be flying alone except on rare occasions; unless I can find someone I can trust to watch over the kid for me."

"Ya got some balls, I'll give ya that," Duo barked as he flashed a grin at Heero. "What are ya gonna do if your deflection causes your scientist ta give another Gundam pilot a mission ta destroy ya because ya've gone rogue?"

"Whatever it takes to protect the kid; no matter what the cost."

Nothing more was said as the two pilots stood silently watching Harry sleep; their thoughts miles away as they both considered the implications and possibilities of everything they had learned that day.

* * *

While Duo and Heero were performing a complicated dance of wits in their efforts to sound each other out; the other three pilots were simultaneously receiving an urgent mission from their respective contacts. There were rumors flying thick and fast over private networks and private phones lines about two Gundams and their respective pilots mysteriously disappearing under suspicious circumstances. The disappearances wouldn't have been as troubling if not for the fact that both suits had disappeared from the same general area within a couple of days of each other without any prior warning.

Wufei immediately began researching the new assignment right after accepting the mission; trying to find any and every clue that could link the two suits or the two pilots together. Trowa and Quatre on the other hand both began making plans to investigate the area where the suits had vanished; the two of them deciding to work together once they learned they'd been given the same mission for a second time (the two teens having kept in touch with each other even after Trowa had returned to the circus). They figured that if a single Gundam could be overwhelmed so easily, then working together would reduce their chances of being captured or killed. Quatre was also not protesting the Maganacs' insistence that they be included in the mission simply because an extra set of eyes or two dozen could very well mean the difference between life and death.

In high level government offices around the world, various individuals sent out orders for information to be found or sat back and watched the chaos unfold with knowing superiority (even if they had no idea exactly what was going on). Out in the depths of space, five like minded scientists felt a measure of biting worry for their charges, for their agendas, and for the fate of both the Colonies and Earth as they waited for more information about the disappearance of two of the five Gundam suits that had been sent to Earth to prevent the looming war.

* * *

**AN:** _Harry has now had an up close and personal introduction to the destructive tendencies of the mobile suits, things are getting a bit difficult for Heero and Duo, and the other pilots have a new mission. We also learn that magic has flaws and limits; meaning that while Harry might be far more powerful than he had been prior to being wrenched out of his reality, his magic isn't going to solve all of his problems for him. _

_Will the remaining three Gundam pilots reach the beleaguered pilots and their accidental charge before the Alliance finds a way around Harry's wards or will our troubled wizard find himself in the hands of an enemy far worse than Dumbledore and Voldemort combined? Find out in the next installment of Banished Destiny! ~ Jenn_


	9. A Gathering of Pilots

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter contains a brief mention of implied rape (no details have been given)._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 8: A Gathering of Pilots

Duo stretched out on the couch and tucked his hands behind his head as he stared up at the abnormally smooth ceiling of the cave that was technically his prison. The past two days had been… different and more than a little frustrating as he had been pushed completely out of his comfort zone; something that had not happened very often in the past three years. He was also more than a little confused because he wasn't quite certain where he stood with his two companions… or were they his captors? There was just so much that he didn't understand and not for lack of trying. He was also itching to get his hands on a computer because he didn't like not knowing what was going on out in the world.

Turning his head sideways, Duo watched as his fellow pilot did yet another set of push-ups; the other teen constantly pushing his body to extremes in his worry over the kid's condition. That was another irksome thing in Duo's mind. The kid needed medical help but they didn't dare take the kid to a hospital and they had no way of treating him here because only the kid could access his supplies. He'd love to know where the kid got such advanced security systems because for all of Duo's hard won skills, he couldn't break into any of the three trunks sitting around the house (and he'd tried; several times).

Heero swore up and down that it wasn't technology but Duo wasn't certain he could believe the explanation that the trunks were protected by magic. _Magic_ of all things; it was hard to believe and the fact that the other teen seemingly readily accepted the explanation rankled Duo because he had a hard time accepting that magic could exist. He was far too pragmatic to believe in fairy tales, especially growing up on the street as he had. Huffing, Duo turned his gaze back up to the ceiling and frowned as he tried to focus on the problem at hand; namely the communications black out he was forced to endure.

Heero had revealed that much of the circuitry on his Gundam had been fried (including the communication system and the main computer) and Duo already knew all of his systems had been fried. Duo suspected that it was a power overload that disrupted the systems and fried the circuits which would indicate that the kid's power, whatever it was called, was energy based and either as powerful or nearly as powerful as the blast from a beam cannon (the thought that it could be more powerful was never entertained since that would have led to far more troubling connotations). Duo would have preferred to have been able to check out the full extent of the damage done to his Gundam for himself but he hadn't been allowed outside and couldn't find the exit on his own despite the number of times he'd searched.

Duo's musings were unexpectedly interrupted at that point by a piercing scream that shattered the relative peace of the cave. Instinctively, Duo jumped up onto his feet in preparation for a fight at the same time as Heero scrambled up off the floor and dash into the alcove where the kid had been sleeping off the stress and exhaustion. Duo ran after him and skidded to a halt a moment later as he watched Heero trying to calm the kid down while at the same time gently restrain him so the kid didn't hurt himself. He was more than a little surprised at how fast the kid's arms and feet lashed out as he fought against the teen and even more surprised that not only were most of those blows landing but that Heero wasn't really trying to block them.

Duo's ears then picked up the kid's frantic words and the air around him grew cold as he unconsciously began channeling his inner shinigami as old memories surfaced from the depths of his mind. Not wanting to relive the past, Duo turned his back on the scene and moved as far as away from the pair as he could; which wasn't really that far considering how limited space was inside of the cave. He paced back and forth in front of the desk for a few minutes before he threw himself into the surprisingly comfortable stone chair (something he still had trouble adjusting to since rock wasn't meant to provide comfort – and no that was _not_ proof that magic existed!), crossed his arms, and glowered at the desk.

Needing something to occupy his attention, he began snooping through the drawers of the desk; something Heero had managed to keep him from doing for the past thirty or so hours which had piqued Duo's curiosity. It didn't take Duo long to find a wooden box containing several journals, what looked like a bunch of toys, some keys, and a file folder and thinking he'd found the perfect distraction; Duo eagerly dove into the goldmine of information.

"Maxwell, I thought I made it perfectly clear to you that you were to stay out of the desk?" Heero growled unexpectedly from beside the chair some thirty minutes later and Duo jumped in shock before he guiltily looked away from Heero's agitated glare.

"I was curious as ta what ya were tryin' ta keep me from findin' and I needed a distraction," Duo replied as he glared down at the medical file he'd been skimming through. "Probably would have been better if I hadn't been quite so curious. I take it ya've read a good portion of what's here at some point?"

"Yeah, it wasn't the most pleasant of reads and it raised far more questions than it answered but it did shed light on the reason Harry reacts the way he does to various situations."

"Some of da injuries listed… they are… it implies that one of da adults he had regular contact with…"

"Yeah. I read through those reports as well. I'm pretty certain the implication is actually fact, based upon some of the kid's reactions to… certain incidents (such as the nightmare he'd just been trapped in) and his dislike of any kind of physical contact."

"What I wouldn't give ta find that man alone in a dark alley one night," Duo hissed as his eyes flashed violet in suppressed rage for an instant. "Ain't right ta do that ta a child… bad enough people on da street do that kind of shit but ta find a teacher pullin' crap like that? And gettin' away with it for years? Something wrong with a society that allows that kind of crap."

"You don't have to tell me that."

"Have ya talked ta da kid at all about what was done ta him?"

"And let him know that we've violated his privacy just as surely as those in his past violated him mentally and physically?" Heero spat back in a low voice as he swung his eyes to the bedroom alcove where Harry was once again sleeping.

"Ah… point taken. What do ya think da odds are of us gettin' inta da nearest city in order ta make contact with da rest of da world and pick up a few spare parts?"

"Less than ten percent as things stand right now."

"Can ya at least get me ta my Gundam? Sittin' here doin' nothing is drivin' me up a wall."

"I don't know if I can," Heero honestly replied. "I'm almost one hundred percent certain that Harry is the only one that can grant you access at this point but even if you could there's no way you'd be able to access the cockpit due to the way it was stored in the other cave. On the other hand, I can bring you some of the fried system boards from my Gundam to work on instead, if you don't mind, so we can possibly get an internet connection or my radio working. There're also some spare parts from a pair of Aries and a Leo that we might be able to use but I wouldn't hold my breath since the two Aries are in millions of pieces and the Leo is in the same state as our Gundams."

"At this point anything ya can give me ta do would help take my mind off my boredom."

That conversation set the tone for the next three days as Duo worked to repair a couple of damaged circuit boards with limited access to proper tools and parts but Duo was nothing if not resourceful and he refused to let the numerous handicaps hinder him. Any progress was progress and every little bit helped; so Duo continued to do what he could with what he had.

Heero, on the other hand, spent most of his time out of the cave working on his Gundam as he pulled out the damaged system boards, dug through the scrap heap for extra parts, and hauled various equipment back and forth between his suit and the makeshift workshop Duo had set up on the desk inside the cave. Both teens took turns watching over Harry as the boy continued to sleep fitfully; the kid's nightmares haunting him day and night.

Food would soon become a problem for the pair; since only Harry could access the trunk where he stored his food and they didn't wish to disturb him given how poorly he was doing health wise. The two pilots had been surviving on the supplies that Harry had given to Heero several days earlier, the bowl of fresh fruit that had been sitting on the counter, and the emergency rations Duo had carried out of his suit but despite careful rationing of said supplies they wouldn't last but a day or two longer.

It would have been a bigger problem if they hadn't had access to running water (after a fashion). They couldn't even supplement their meager stores with fish from the ocean because of the risk of being seen by the search teams Heero had seen patrolling the area beyond the wards. Despite their dwindling supplies and extremely slow progress, it was Harry's rapidly failing health that truly worried the two teens.

The kid had developed a fever sometime during Duo's third night in the cave and his wounds had actually stopped healing completely and now continuously wept blood and puss as infection set in. After another two full days of trying to bring the fever down and clear out the infections on their own, Duo and Heero were considering taking the kid to the nearest hospital despite the potential risk of the kid's abilities being discovered or the likelihood that they would be caught before they could get clear of the patrols. Not to mention the fact that they would need to find a way to get him to the mainland since they were basically stranded a good twenty or thirty miles off the coast of Japan according to Duo's earlier surveillance scans.

They didn't think they had much of a choice at this point though, because if they didn't get Harry help soon, the kid was going to die. So Duo set to helping Heero rig up a makeshift stretcher slash raft (something made all the more difficult due to a lack of wood or other material with which to make the shafts and floats) that they could use to carry the kid to the water and transport him across the water to the mainland and made plans to sneak out of the area during the cover of night in hopes that they wouldn't be spotted leaving the protected area.

It was shortly after sunset on the eighth day since Duo had joined them (as they were making their final preparations) that their plans were dashed to pieces before they could even start as the sounds of a furious battle soon filtered through the wards protecting and hiding Harry's cave and small stretch of beach. Heero immediately ordered Duo to stay and watch over the kid before disappearing through the eastern wall.

"Damn it," Duo growled as he stared after the other teen for a minute. "I hate not knowin' what's goin' on."

Any other complaints he might have voiced died on his tongue as a particularly large explosion rocked the cave and he hurried into the bedroom to protect the kid. He found Harry completely delirious and sitting up in bed alternately talking to someone named Tom and hissing strangely. Duo ignored the kid's strange one-sided conversation as he picked him up and set him gently on the floor in a cocoon of blankets off to one side before he began manhandling the two stone bed frames so he could make a protective shelter.

He did this by tipping one of the beds up onto its side and setting it parallel to the wall in the corner of the room before lifting the second bed up so that it was propped up on the upturned bed to create a small niche that would shelter both him and the kid if the ceiling collapsed on them. Next, Duo gathered up all of the pillows and blankets he could find and made a comfortable nest beneath the bed before moving Harry into place, tucking the kid right up against the wall. Duo then curled his body around Harry so that if any one but Heero managed to break into the cave and find them, his body would offer the kid a small measure of protection.

* * *

It had taken Quatre, Trowa, and the Maganacs six days to make their way from Saudi Arabia to Japan, their movements hindered by their need to keep their presence hidden (choosing to avoid air transport since flying in on a plane would have drawn too much attention at the time). Along the way they'd worked out their plan of attack in order to take out the troops that were currently monitoring the stretch of coastline and the waters around the island that was their destination; starting with which port they would steal a barge from so they could transport the downed Gundams away from the island if they were found. The fact that the Alliance (or more specifically OZ agents within the Alliance) was still so interested in the area where the two Gundams disappeared told the two pilots that there was something off about the entire situation.

They arrived about two hours before sunset on the end of the sixth day and used the time until the sun sank below the horizon to monitor the activities of the troops patrolling the area. As darkness began falling, the Maganacs slipped out of the barge in their mobile suits and made their way up onto the top of the cliff over looking the stretch of beach in question so that they could provide back up for the two Gundams. Quatre would then focus on taking out the troops patrolling the beach to the north while Trowa would do the same to the south before they would work their way towards each other to catch the fleet of ships sitting just off the coast in a pincher move.

They knew that once they attacked the troops, they would have approximately thirty-five minutes to destroy both the troops and the fleet and search the area for some clue as to what happened to the two missing Gundams before they could expect reinforcements to arrive from the nearest Alliance Base in the area. While they were searching for clues, the Maganacs would reequip both of their Gundams with ammunition so that they would not be caught without the means to protect themselves when they faced the second wave of troops and help hunt for the missing suits and their pilots.

The moment the last glow of light disappeared from the horizon, the Maganacs fired off a volley of long ranged missiles that targeted the command ship of the fleet (in an attempt to buy more time) while Quatre and Trowa headed for their nearest targets. Explosions lit the night and the enemy troops were in complete disarray as they were caught off guard by the unexpected and fairly brutal attack on what had been, up until that moment, a rather boring (if supposedly important) assignment.

As Quatre faced dozens upon dozens of enemy suits, his chest began aching but for the first time since he chose to fight for the Colonies it was not because he was taking the lives of his enemies. He instinctively knew that his heart was aching for another; for some small brave and bright soul that was hovering on the verge of death and that knowledge tore at his heart. Now most might think it strange for teen to claim to know such things but Quatre was born with a form of empathy that allowed him to connect to the world around him; specifically to the people around him.

When he was younger, Quatre had called the feelings he would feel from those around him his Space Heart; because like the empty space there was no warmth in the emotions that swallowed him day in and day out and the mistaken belief that his father saw him as replaceable because he was a test-tube baby only made it worse as his personal feelings clouded his perception of what he felt. That all changed the day he allowed himself to be taken hostage by the Maganacs on the mining satellite his family had owned when Rashid had slapped him and told him he should have pride in himself regardless of how he was born.

He still referred to his mostly unexplored ability as his Space Heart but his reasons for doing so had changed. Now, he saw his connection to those around him as the Heart of Life in Space as he strove to provide the warmth in the vacuum of space by caring for those around him and seeking to prevent the war that would tear the Colonies and Earth apart. It was his empathy that had led him to befriending Trowa during the Corsica Base mission and how he knew that his fellow pilot also sought peace. And when he first felt the stirrings of pain in his heart as he engaged his first opponents, he feared there was something wrong with his fellow pilot but he quickly realized the pull on his senses did not feel like Trowa; nor did it feel like any of the Maganac.

In fact, whoever it was that was fueling his current pain was actually drowning out everyone else's emotions in the immediate area and it scared Quatre on some levels because he'd never felt another's emotions to such an extent before. The idea that one person could overwhelm him in such a way should have been impossible and yet Quatre couldn't deny what he was feeling. Despite the near crippling pain, Quatre fought on without faltering; somehow knowing that he was fighting for the life of that bright soul and that there wasn't much time left.

Quatre inexplicably knew, in the depths of his heart, that should that bright soul disappear into the darkest night, the world and the future would grow far darker and colder for the loss. So Quatre wielded his two shotel swords with deadly accuracy and for once without an ounce of remorse as he plowed his way through the enemy. Off to the south, Trowa fought just as determinedly (though far less emotionally) as he mowed down his opponents with his numerous machine guns.

Both Zero-Three and Zero-Four were caught off guard when a third Gundam arrived on the scene as the offshore fleet that they were steadily fighting their way towards was unexpectedly engulfed in flames before the three ships exploded quite spectacularly. The battle ended a bare five minutes later as Quatre cut down the last four Leos that had been charging him and he quickly prepared to face the newly arrived Gundam as it made its way to the beach with the burning ships lighting up the night behind it. By unspoken agreement, Trowa and Quatre closed in on the new suit (unknowingly heading straight for Harry's unseen wards); both of them knowing they would have to work together if the third pilot attacked them.

"_I suggest you both stop moving right this minute unless you wish to destroy yourselves and your suits needlessly!_" the pilot of the new suit ordered, making Trowa and Quatre halt in their tracks over the unexpected command. "_You are in danger of colliding with an extremely dangerous energy field capable of destroying your suits the instant they brush against it. If you don't believe me, check out the satellite feed I am sending you from eight days ago; when the second Gundam went missing._"

Quatre didn't bother watching the video stream that was sent to him, his eyes were closed and he had hunched over in his chair as the stabbing, burning pain in his chest began to overwhelm him now that he was no longer focused on cutting down the enemy. Sandrock dropped down to his knees in response and Quatre blindly fought his way out of the buckles of his harness as he opened the cockpit door and crashed down onto the sand below. Quatre was completely unaware of the madness that ensued at that point as his two fellow pilots also left their suits and rushed to his aide only to pull up short when a bruised and bleeding teen suddenly appeared amidst them from out of nowhere.

* * *

Heero had stumbled to a wide eyed stop the moment he stepped outside of the cave and found another two Gundams battling to the north and the south of the small secluded stretch of beach beneath the protective wards. A spike of unfamiliar fear rushed through him as the idea that the two Gundams had been given a mission to destroy him and his suit passed through his thoughts before he shoved the thought away. He would worry about their reasons for coming to Japan later (which is where Duo had told him he'd washed up); right now he needed to find a way to get Harry the medical help he desperately needed.

Actually, first he needed to find some place to hide as stray beam fire fell on the pile of scrap metal and sent burning bits of debris raining down inside of the wards. He eventually took cover beneath the shield of his Gundam after raiding his weapon supply in the cockpit so he didn't feel quite so vulnerable; taking more than one hit from flying debris in the process. As he sat there, he analyzed the abilities of the two Gundams that were destroying the Alliance and OZ troops; making note that the one to the north seemed to favor close combat while the one on the south focused more on striking from a distance using heavy firepower.

He could easily tell that both pilots were good, their movements fluid and unhesitating, and Heero would certainly hate to have to face either of them in battle. It wasn't that he doubted his own abilities, because Heero knew he was a damn good pilot as well, it was just that he could see that the other two Gundam pilots were just as competent as he was; which meant that they would be difficult opponents. Just as Heero was settling in to observe the rest of the battle it ended quite abruptly as yet another Gundam turned up and destroyed the fleet sitting off the coast in an impressive display of sheer fire power (quite literally given that they'd been set on fire).

He tensed up at that point as it looked like the first two suits that had appeared were going to face off together against the third only to hear the third pilot warn the other two pilots away from the edge of the wards. Heero cursed because if the Gundam pilots could pick up evidence of the wards that meant that the Alliance and OZ would eventually discover them as well; if they hadn't already. Torn by that revelation, Heero glanced back at the hidden cave entrance before he made his decision.

Two minutes later, he stepped out through the wards and found himself face to face with three teens. There was a tense moment as the two still standing fell into defensive stances before Heero tossed his guns down on the ground and held up his hands to show he meant them no harm. The young Asian then stayed to cover him while the other teen rushed over to check on the pilot of the third Gundam as the blonde haired teen appeared to be in some kind of pain.

Heero turned his full attention to the teen standing just a few feet away from him and took note of the sword buckled to the teen's waist and Heero was sharply reminded of the sword Harry had carried those first two days; a sword that had mysteriously vanished at some point after he'd obtained the kid's oath. Shoving aside the idle thought, Heero focused on the other teen once more.

"We don't have much time before this beach is once more crawling with OZ and Alliance troops," Heero pointed out calmly. "I have a friend who is in desperate need of medical assistance; can you help?"

"I'm not a medic. Why haven't you taken him to a hospital?"

"We have been pinned down here for eight days with no transportation off the island in conjunction with the constant patrols of Alliance troops and the hospitals aren't exactly safe but we're running out of time and we're going to lose him if he doesn't get the care he needs soon."

"Are you one of the missing pilots?"

"Yes, my name is Heero Yuy."

"I am Wufei Chang. Where is your Gundam and do you know where the other missing pilot and his Gundam are? Is your injured friend the other missing pilot?"

"My Gundam and Maxwell's are here, hidden out of sight for the time being, but both of them are currently inoperable and in need of repair. Maxwell, the pilot of the other Gundam, is fine or at least he was when I left him at the start of the battle. The one who needs help is just a kid really and his injuries are not healing due to the onset of infection on top of the rather nasty fever he developed several days ago. We've done what we could for him but we don't have anything to treat him with and we don't know if there is something else wrong with him above and beyond the obvious."

"I have some medical training," a voice off to one side announced and both Heero and Wufei turned to the brown haired teen that was holding up the weakened blonde pilot as the two joined them. "Can he be moved? It wouldn't be wise to stay here much longer as we'll have more company in less than fifteen minutes."

"I don't know if he can be safely moved but we don't have much choice at this point because he is the only one that can key you into the security system that is protecting his home. Do any of you have a way to transport a pair of crippled Gundams out of here? As I'd mentioned earlier both Gundams are inoperable due to the inner circuitry being fried."

"We have a pair of trucks we can load them up on to take them to the other side of the island where we have a barge waiting," the blonde whispered tiredly. "We have to hurry though because the boy doesn't have much time. I can feel him dying."

Heero glanced at the blonde sharply and found a pair of pain filled blue eyes pinning him in place. He nodded curtly and collected his two pistols from the ground, "I'll have Maxwell bring the kid out while you make arrangements for the Gundams. If you have tow cables on hand, I can run them through the perimeter and hook them up to the Gundams once you bring the trucks around."

"I will keep watch for reinforcements sent by the Alliance," Wufei announced as he walked back to his Gundam.

Heero nodded and vanished back into the wards before he broke out into a run, heading for the entrance to the cave. He was a little disturbed to find evidence that the cave had suffered some structural damage during the short battle as the floor was coated with stone dust and dirt as well as more than a few chunks of rock. A quick scan of the main cavern showed no signs of life and Heero hurried across the room towards the alcove where the beds were.

"Maxwell!? You two alright?"

"We're as fine as can be, Hee-man," Duo called back.

Heero growled at the horrid nickname that Duo had given him earlier in the week but chose to ignore it this time because getting the kid out of here was far more important. Inside of the alcove, Heero paused for a moment to take in the makeshift shelter that Duo had built to offer him and the kid a measure of protection before he shook off the strangeness of his fellow pilot.

"Grab hold of the kid while I start packing up anything important; we've got company and a ride out of here," Heero ordered.

"Who is it?" Duo asked tensely even as he immediately began complying.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was another trio of Gundam pilots?"

"Actually, yeah I would. Howard was pretty certain there were five of us sent ta Earth," Duo replied as he grinned at Heero. He then frowned as he glanced down at the kid in his arms as he asked, "What about da kid?"

"One of the other pilots has medical training," Heero replied as he packed up the clothes Harry had let them borrow the day Duo first arrived and gathered up anything else he thought the kid might need, including what was left of the bruise balm and the healing cream he'd been using on the kids side and back and the box from the desk.

"How are ya goin' ta get me out of here? I thought ya said only da kid could get me through da wards."

"You're going to carry the kid; so long as you are touching him you should be able to pass through the wards," Heero replied back as he passed the pack and a pair of pistols to the other teen. "Here, I've packed up everything of the kid's that I could find that he might need. We can always come back and get the rest of his things once he's healed and the Alliance looses interest in the island."

"What if his wards thingies fail, won't his stuff be taken by OZ?"

"If two intense battles didn't drop his wards I seriously doubt anything else will. If they do manage to get in here I doubt they're going to have any more luck than we did when it came to budging or breaking into those trunks. Now, shut up and get the kid out of here; I left the pilot who offered to take care of him near the tide line so just walk straight towards the water. I'll finish packing up everything you were working on and will help them load up the two Gundams. I want you to stay with the kid and make certain nothing happens to him."

"Heero…"

"Shut up and go!"

Heero watched as Duo shook his head, slung the backpack containing Harry's things over his shoulder, and readjusted his hold on the kid in his arms before tentatively moving towards the eastern wall. He knew the instant Duo saw through the illusion because the other teen cussed a couple of times and shook his head again before slipping out of the cave and Heero breathed a sigh of relief; trusting Duo to take care of the kid for him. Heero then began gathering up the various system boards that Duo had been trying to repair and tucked them into the duffle bag that had once held his spare weapons inside of Wing before he began using it to transport the fried system boards back and forth between the cave and his Gundam.

He glanced at his watch and cursed when he saw he'd wasted nearly eight minutes already and began taking less care with the parts he was gathering. Once he was done, he hurried outside of the cave and climbed up on top of Wing so he could drop the system boards into the cockpit and lock the door so that the boards wouldn't be lost during transport. He then ran across the top of his Gundam to drop down on the southern edge of the wards where he could see two transport trucks waiting along with a dozen brown mobile suits that he guessed were allies of one of the pilots since they weren't attacking the three Gundams.

"Toss me the cables and I'll hook up the first suit," Heero called as he stepped through the wards, making the men standing beside the transport jump. "My Gundam is lying perpendicular to the trucks right now, so we'll have to turn him as we bring him out."

"He needs to come out head first; it will be easier to load him that way," one of the men suggested as he passed Heero the ends of three thick cables.

"Not a problem… the second Gundam is in a bit more of a precarious position and will be easier to pull from the northern edge, if you take the second truck down to the tide line and head north for at least forty yards before turning towards the cliff you'll be able to work your way around the wards. Stop about halfway between the beach and the cliff facing the beach; we'll have to pull him out of the cave before we can pull him clear of the wards."

"Got it, let me know when the first suit is ready to go."

Nodding, Heero hauled the cables back into the wards and moved towards the head of his Gundam where he attached one cable to each shoulder before hooking the last one to the back of the suit below the head. He checked to make certain the cables were secure before he trotted back out and gave a sharp whistle to get the men's attention. When they looked over at him, he waved his hand to signal he was ready for them to haul the Gundam out. Slipping back inside of the hidden stretch of beach, Heero monitored the process to make certain there wasn't going to be any issues taking the suit through the wards (there wasn't) before he took off running towards the other side so he could get the other suit moving.

It was about the time that they were trying to free Duo's Deathscythe from the cave that the Alliance reinforcements turned up and Heero cursed their luck as he watched Wufei head them off. The blonde's Gundam soon joined the Asian teen while the last functioning Gundam sat unmanned which Heero took to mean that the final teen was still tending to Harry. Once the Gundam cleared the cave, Heero told the driver of the truck to turn north and pull it through the wards without bothering to switch the cables as they originally planned; there just wasn't enough time. The moment the feet of the suit cleared the wards, Heero dashed off in the direction of the unmanned Gundam with the intention of piloting the Gundam in order to help fend off the enemy.

The suit fired up before he reached it and Heero took that to mean that either someone else hijacked the suit or the original pilot had done what he could for Harry and went to join the fight. Praying that the suit was piloted by a potential ally and hoping that Duo hadn't been separated from the kid, Heero changed directions once again; this time heading towards one of the smaller unmanned suits (that he figured belonged to the allies that came with the Gundams) after he witnessed the pilot get cut down before he could get inside the machine. Heero didn't hesitate to climb up inside and he quickly started up the suit as he spent several precious second familiarizing himself with the unfamiliar system. The first thing he did was to activate the communications system and address his new allies over their secured frequency.

"This is Heero Yuy, pilot of the Gundam Wing, borrowing one of your unmanned suits after witnessing the pilot being killed by the enemy," Heero announced crisply in order to establish himself as an ally and not an enemy. "Both downed Gundams have cleared the protective wards and should either be on their transport trucks or close to it. Can someone please confirm that my companions have made it safely to the barge?"

"_This is Rashid Kurama, leader of the Maganac Crops. Both of your companions have been secured. Please provide cover for the vehicles transporting the two Gundams._"

"Mission accepted," Heero replied as he headed towards the nearest truck where the shrunken Deathscythe had just been loaded in time to intercept two enemy suits that he promptly took down using the beam riffle that the suit he was borrowing was equipped with.

* * *

**AN:** _All of the Gundam pilots have now met face to face (or at least most of them have). Harry will soon be officially meeting the remaining three pilots. More information on what is wrong with Harry will be given in the next chapter; which I will be posting tomorrow. I would have had this chapter up sooner but this was a bit of a hectic week for me and the next two weeks are looking to be the same so expect fewer updates until things get back to normal here. ~ Jenn_


	10. Friendship in the Making

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 9: Friendship in the Making

Harry woke slowly and reluctantly; his entire body aching fiercely. Additionally, he had a killer headache that was beating out an irregular tempo in his head, a dry scratchy itch that was digging at the back of his eyes, and what felt like millions of burning pins and needles that were stabbing at his chest and throat. He couldn't ever remember a time when he'd felt so horrible: not when he'd regrown various bones over the years and not even after Voldemort had tortured him in the graveyard using the Cruciatus Curse – though the journey that had brought him to this world might have come close.

He also felt extremely weak; as if he'd just run a fifty mile marathon while being chased by a dozen starving dragons before casting a dozen patronuses in a row without any breaks while facing a thousand dementors. Peeling his eyes open was a chore and a half and at first he thought maybe he was back in the hospital wing and everything that had happened over the past twenty-two months had been nothing more than a bad dream. It only took a few minutes for him to realize that the white walls of the room were too close together, determine that the bed he was tucked into was far too comfortable, and recall that the hospital beds at Hogwarts didn't have moss colored netting hanging from a bronze canopy.

Panic quickly began to set in as he knew that if he wasn't in the hospital wing, then he should have been in his cave and he was without a doubt most certainly _not_ in his cave. The fearful whimper he let out cut off abruptly as the pain in his throat spiked sharply as struggled to free himself from the rather heavy pile of blankets covering him.

"Easy, kid, there's nothing to be afraid of here," a voice murmured and Harry automatically flinched away from the unfamiliar voice and struggled harder, his fear spiking because he didn't recognize the voice and because he was starting to have trouble breathing due to the growing pain in his chest.

"Harry, calm down; you are safe."

That voice Harry recognized and even as he stopped fighting to free himself he felt a spike of resentment as he turned to glare at Heero. The teenaged pilot just sighed and shook his head in response and Harry started to growl only to stop when that small sound made his throat hurt worse.

"It's best you try not to make any sound right now," the first voice instructed. "You're still recovering and it will probably be a couple of days before your throat will stop hurting. Forcing yourself to talk through the pain could also potentially cause permanent damage to your throat and vocal cords."

Tearing his eyes away from Heero, Harry turned his head as his eyes searched for the source of the voice. When his eyes landed on another teen, Harry was a bit taken aback; were there no adults in this world? He then let his eyes take in the teen's appearance; noting his flyaway brown hair that seemed to defy gravity while half hiding his face at the same time. Harry actually gasped when he found a single green eye staring back at him as he'd never before known anyone to have eyes that shade of green (aside from his mother). A closer look made him realize that those eyes looked nothing like his or his mother's eyes as the green was several shades darker than his eyes and they were far colder than his mother's eyes had looked in his pictures of her (unaware that his own eyes appeared just as cold at times).

_I don't know why I thought they looked like mine,_ Harry thought as he closed his eyes and tried to beat back the disappointment that filled him the moment he realized his mistake. _It's not like there's any possibility of me finding any family here on this world. This isn't even my world and I don't belong here. _

"Aside from your throat, are you in any other pain? Just shake your head yes or no, don't try to speak."

Harry reopened his eyes to stare up at the unfamiliar teen again before he simply rolled over as best he could, trapped as he was beneath the covers. Unfortunately, that put him face to face with Heero who was studying him with those intense blue eyes and Harry felt a wave of rage wash through him and he let out a soft strangled growl as he glared at the one he blamed for all his recent troubles.

"You need to answer Barton's question, Harry. And you need to stop trying to speak."

If Harry's throat didn't hurt as bad as it did and if Heero hadn't given him that last order; Harry would have told Heero to butt out and mind his own business. The warning thrum of his magic reminding him of the oath he'd given the other teen had Harry grimacing and pressing a hand to his heart as he glanced back towards the other teen and gave a single sharp nod of affirmation before dropping his head back onto the pillow and closing his eyes again. He wasn't certain what the teen could do about his pain but soon found out when he felt the covers pulled down and something cold rubbing across his upper arm coupled with the strong scent of rubbing alcohol just a few minutes later.

His eyes flew open and he jerked his head sideways in time to see the teen prepping a syringe. Harry frowned in confusion as he watched the process until he realized that the teen intended to inject whatever it was in the needle into his arm. The last thing Harry wanted was for some kid that was mostly likely at least a year or two younger than himself jabbing him with a needle in order to drug him with some unknown substance. So, despite how much pain he was in and how weak he felt, Harry didn't hesitate to lash out at the teen while at the same time renewing his effort to free himself from the covers. Unfortunately, Harry was still far too weak and he was facing two to one odds as Heero quickly jumped in to help the strange teen restrain him.

"Harry, stop; Barton is only trying to give you something for the pain," Heero instructed as the blue-eyed teen secured both of Harry's wrists while the other teen grabbed hold of his arm. "He isn't going to hurt you, not really. Please, trust me; everything is going to be fine. Barton is the one that has been helping us to take care of you while you've been sick."

Harry hissed and jerked as he felt the sting of the needle all the while glaring hatefully at Heero. When he felt the lethargy stealing over him, Harry struggled to stay awake only for Heero to tell him to sleep. The last thing he heard before the darkness claimed him was the unfamiliar teen making some comment about him being a feisty one and Heero wordlessly snorting in reply.

The next time Harry woke it was to a slight stinging and tugging sensation in his left knee and he shifted away from the feeling only to feel someone grab hold of his leg. He let out a wordless protest as he opened his eyes and half sat up only to have a long haired teen push him back down onto the bed and tell him to hold still a bit longer. He frowned at the half familiar teen (fear lurking in the depths of his eyes) even as he hastily shoved the teen's hand off of him. He then lifted himself up onto his elbows a second time to see the green-eyed teen from before, whose name he couldn't remember, messing with his left knee and automatically tried to pull his leg free.

Said teen deftly prevented his escape and briefly glanced up to meet Harry's gaze before he went back to what he was doing as he calmly instructed, "Please hold still a bit longer; your knee has finally healed to the point where the stitches are no longer necessary and I need to finish removing them."

"Let go of me and leave me alone!" Harry hissed demandingly through his still sore throat as he ignored the request for him to hold still as he continued to weakly struggle against the teen's hold. The long haired teen intervened at that point as he once more pushed Harry back onto the bed and held him in place with one arm while Harry's panic continued to rise. "Get your filthy hands off of me you mangy malignant mountain trolls! Damn it! Will you stop touching me already!? Did you hear me, you infernally inconsiderate imbeciles!? I told you to let me go!"

"Calm down, kiddo; we ain't gonna hurt ya. I'll let ya go as soon as ya stop flailin' around and hold still."

Harry stopped fighting at that point but only because his frantic struggles had triggered a violent coughing fit and it felt like hundreds of burning hot razors were tearing through his lungs and throat. Tears slipped from the corners of his tightly closed eyes and he curled up in on himself in an effort to suppress the coughs until the fit passed. Feeling even weaker than he had before; Harry simply laid there gasping and sobbing as the pain rose and fell in waves with each ragged breath and every beat of his heart as the hands holding him slowly withdrew. When someone grabbed hold of his left leg just a few minutes later and gently pulled it straight, Harry let out a strained whine and tried to twist away from the touch.

"Easy, kid, I just needed to straighten your leg out so I could reach the rest of the stitches. I promise that I won't touch you any more than I need to and that I won't touch you anywhere else. Maxwell, fill up that water bottle with hot water, wrap it in a towel, and see if you can get the kid to hold against his chest to help ease the pain he will be feeling after all of that coughing."

Not five minutes later, Harry felt a warm wrapped bundle invading his personal space as a low, gentle voice coaxed, "Budge up a bit, kiddo; this here will help da pain go away. All ya gotta do is hold it against your chest and da heat will do da rest."

With great reluctance, Harry did as he was told in order to ease the burning ache that grew sharper with each breath he took. The moment he pulled the towel wrapped hot water bottle against his chest the soothing warmth eased the tightness and he let out a soft sobbing sigh as the pain instantly began fading. Several tears of relief slipped from between his eyelids as it became easier to breath and his arms tightened around the water bottle as if to bring it even closer to him. His breathing had almost returned to normal when he once again felt the stinging and tugging sensation that had woken him up in the first place and he flinched and opened his eyes to stare at the green eyed teen leaning over his leg.

"Who in Merlin's name are you two, anyway? Where have you taken me? What in the nine levels of hell are you going to do to me?" Harry rasped out weakly as he fought to remain calm and uncurled himself just enough so that he could eye both teens suspiciously. "And what in the name of Merlin's burning beard have you done with Heero?"

"I'm hurt… ya don't remember me kiddo?" the long haired teen asked with a pout as he pressed both hands over his heart in mock pain. "And who said we were gonna do anything ta ya? We just want ta help ya."

"I sort of remember you… you were going to kill Heero," Harry accused as he rolled onto his back and frowned up at the pilot he only vaguely remembered. "And if you really wanted to help me you'd have left me the hell alone and stayed off my damn beach! Where's Heero? You better not have hurt him or I'm going to make you regret ever setting your Merlin cursed eyes on me."

"It was an honest mistake… I was only lookin' ta protect ya and I ain't done anything ta Hee-man," the teen mumbled as he reached up and tugged on his braid. "Anyway, da name's Duo Maxwell; I might run…"

"…and hide but you never tell a lie, that's you in a nut shell," Harry finished as that particular memory floated up from the depths of his subconscious. Harry then glanced back down to the other teen and watched him intently as he pulled out the last few stitches, cleaned Harry's knee with some kind of solution that stung the tiny holes where the stitches had been removed, and wrapped his knee up in a new bandage.

"I'm Trowa Barton," Trowa finally introduced himself after he'd finished with Harry's knee, wiped his hands off on a damp towel, and lifted his gaze to meet Harry's turbulent and mistrustful eyes. "Are you still feeling any pain in your chest or throat? Or are you still having any difficulties breathing?"

"Are you a doctor?"

"No, but I do have some medical training and I help treat the injured and sick animals at the circus where I work."

"Oh… what kind of animals?"

"I mostly work with the lions, tigers, and elephants and you are trying to change the subject."

"I'm fine."

"Pull the other one, kid."

"Don't call me kid and I told you I'm fine."

"Ya haven't exactly introduced yourself so what else do ya expect us ta call ya, kiddo?" Duo asked with amusement as Harry and Trowa frowned at each other. "And do ya really expect us ta believe that ya don't feel any pain at all?"

"I am perfectly fine. I don't need any more Merlin be damned shots," Harry practically growled as he weakly sat up, pulled his legs up to his chest in order to bring them out of reach of Trowa, and slipped his arms around his legs without releasing the hot water bottle pressed against his chest as he once again began glaring at both teens. "And it's Harry; not kid or kiddo and most especially not _boy_."

"Is there a last name to go with that?"

"Just Harry," Harry mumbled uncomfortably in a desire to not give away too much information as he dropped his eyes down to stare at his bandaged knee. A heartbeat later, long ingrained manners (drilled into him by his overly strict aunt) had him adding a soft, "And thank you, Mr. Barton, for fixing my knee; even though there was no need for you to do so."

"You're welcome and I'd much rather you called me Trowa," the green eyed teen insisted as he grimaced. "And please tell me the truth; are you feeling any pain at all? If you are, I can get you some aspirin to take if you don't want another shot."

"Aspirin isn't going to work. I have stuff I can take to numb the pain when I get home; so if you could kindly show me the way out I will be on my way and out of your hair in three shakes of a crup's tail," Harry muttered despite the fact that his throat had started burning due to all the talking he'd been doing

"Your island cave is still under siege by OZ troops," Duo stated as he sat down on the foot of bed. "I'm afraid it will be months before we can sneak ya back in ta get your things. And before ya go thinking of sneaking off on your own; ya should know we're in a different country now and well over five thousand miles away."

Harry jerked his head up to stare at Duo in shock and felt a wave of despair wash over him over the knowledge that he'd probably never see his home again and that all of his things were as good as lost. Then he began to grow angry; he didn't ask for them to steal him away from his home and he certainly never asked either of the two teens to turn up on the beach where he'd made his home. Just as quickly as it had come, the anger fled as resignation filled Harry; there was nothing he could do to change the past (a lesson he'd learned years ago).

"I'm sure your things will be safe, Harry," Duo assured him. "And one of us will gladly take ya ta get them once it's safe."

"It the mean time you can rest up while you recover," Trowa interjected. "You were pretty sick there for a while and we almost lost you a time or two."

"Would have been better if you'd left me to die," Harry whispered with conviction as he dropped back on the bed, pulled he covers up over his head, and curled up in a ball. "Would have been safer for everyone that way."

"Oh don't go starting that crap again, kiddo," Duo growled as he threw his arms up in the air.

"He has a one track mind," Heero dryly stated as he entered the room in time to overhear that last exchange. "I lost track of the number of times he's mentioned death in my presence."

"You're the one who said you were going to kill me first," Harry barked as he poked his head out and glared at the teen to whom he was oath bound. "By Merlin's rotten crotch; death certainly would have been preferable to the slow and painful torture you promised me when you thought I was lying to you about the stupid ugly robot."

"And I will regret the things I said and did that night for the rest of my life," Heero countered solemnly without acknowledging the heated glare he was now getting from Duo. "I was trained as a soldier and it wasn't until that night that I realized I was becoming a heartless monster."

"I still hate you," Harry hissed as he felt his anger stirring once more as his memories of the night in question and the oath he'd been forced to give stirred.

"Not as much as I hate myself," Heero calmly replied as he moved closer to the bed.

"Don't the three of you have anything better to do than torment our guest?"

Harry shifted his gaze passed Heero to find yet another teen standing in the door pressing a hand to his heart (as if he was in pain) as he scowled lightly at the other three teens (at least Harry thought he was scowling; it was hard to tell without his glasses). Harry frowned and shifted uncomfortably as a spike of sheer terror and old rage rose up inside of him he as the new teen sharply reminded of Draco Malfoy which in turn reminded him of Lucius Malfoy, the Chamber of Secrets fiasco, and the night of Voldemort's rebirth.

The fury and fear faded just seconds later as the passing resemblance to his old rival vanished once he got a good look at the teen when the blonde moved further into the room. Confusion replaced his inner turmoil when he sensed something inside of him shifting in response to the new teen as his eyes searched the teen's face intently.

"Don't mind my fellow pilots, child; they're violent and dangerous but they're all really nice guys.*"

Harry didn't bother to say anything in reply, he was far more interested in comparing the teen in front of him to his old rival. Like Draco, the new teen was fairly petite though a good few inches taller than Harry had been prior to his being de-aged and he wore rather expensive looking clothes (much like Malfoy). In addition to the similar looking pale blonde hair, their hairstyles were eerily similar (but not identical) as well, though this teen's hair showed no hints of the styling gel that Draco had made liberal use of to keep his hair neatly in place. The teen now standing in front of him also had a fuller face that looked softer somehow; nothing at all like the sharp, ferret-like face of the youngest Malfoy. The biggest two differences though were in the teen's small smile that was in no way mocking or cruel and the teen's jewel-like light blue eyes that shone with life instead of malice.

"You're last name isn't Malfoy, is it?" Harry hesitantly asked when he could no longer contain his curiosity as he tilted his head to the side and continued to search the depths of those friendly blue eyes.

"No… I've never heard of anyone named Malfoy. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner. Might I ask who you are?"

"A world with no Malfoys?" Harry mused as the barest hint of a smile ghosted over his face as he closed his eyes for a heartbeat so he could savor that small revelation. "That has to be the nicest thing I've heard since I woke up stranded all alone on the beach two years ago." Harry then opened his eyes once more to see an expectant look on Quatre's face and it took him a moment to remember that the teen had asked him his name. Blushing with embarrassment, Harry ducked his head and rubbed the back of his head as he mumbled, "I'm Harry James Potter."

Harry then froze and snapped his head back up in shock as he realized he'd given out his full name; something he'd only done once before when he'd sworn his oath to Heero. He was a bit surprised when none of the teens appeared to have paid all that much attention to him except Quatre who was still smiling at him.

"It's nice to meet you, Harry. It's also nice to see you awake and in much better health."

"Th…thank you," Harry stuttered self consciously before he furrowed his brow and glanced furtively towards Heero before focusing on Quatre once more, feeling far more at ease addressing the blonde teen for some reason. "What… Mr. Bar… that is… Trowa said something about me being sick… How? I… I mean I've never been sick before."

"You came down with a severe case of Space Flu," Trowa answered when Quatre looked to the green eyed teen instead of offering an answer. "It's a pretty nasty virus that is fatal eighty-seven percent of the time. What confuses me is how you managed to catch it at your age since you should have been given an immunization shot shortly after you were born to prevent you from catching the virus."

"Space Flu?" Harry repeated skeptically as he whipped his head around to look at the other teen and furrowed his brow in confusion. "That almost sounds made up. You're not going to have to stick me with another needle in order to make certain I don't catch it again, are you?"

"No, now that you've had it you will never be affected by it again because your body has learned how to fight the virus. I will, however, need to draw a blood sample to check for the presence of the antibodies for the rest of the common diseases and viruses out there that are nearly as bad as Space Flu; each one of them unpleasant to go through. I don't want to take the risk that you missed out on any of the other childhood immunizations that you should have been given before you reached age five."

Harry wrinkled his nose in displeasure and scooched further away from Trowa which drew a snicker of amusement from Duo. Harry shifted so he could stare at the long haired pilot for a moment before he turned back to Quatre, still curious as to why he felt drawn to the teen. He absently noticed that Quatre was no longer clutching at his chest and he wondered why he'd thought the teen had been in pain earlier when he was clearly fine now. Harry also noticed that the teen hadn't stopped smiling; in fact, the teen practically radiated warmth and happiness and the calming effect it had on Harry's mind almost felt familiar.

"I bet you must be hungry," Quatre mused suddenly, pulling Harry out of his thoughts. "It's been well over two weeks after all, since we stumbled into you and your two friends in Japan."

"I don't have any friends," Harry absently corrected as he focused on the rest of Quatre's words. "Two weeks? I was sick for two weeks?"

"More like closer to three weeks," Heero interjected. "You passed out after moving Maxwell's Gundam and you fell sick just a couple of days after that. Maxwell and I watched over you for a week before the other pilots found us."

"He didn't just move my Deathscythe, he cut my poor Gundam in half," Duo complained under his breath as he scowled and tugged on his braid. "Can't even fit inside da damn cockpit now."

"Shut up, Maxwell," Heero ordered as he cuffed the other teen on the back of his head.

Harry cringed and shrank back away from the two teens; his eyes wide and nervous due to Duo's apparent anger and Heero's reaction. When there were no further signs of violence forthcoming, Harry relaxed just a bit until he finally registered what Heero had said earlier about exactly how long he'd been sick. Tensing his shoulders, he turned to stare blankly at Heero as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea that he'd virtually lost three weeks due to an illness. He had the vaguest impression of aching all over, of being too hot, and of half forgotten nightmares but there had been no real sense of time passing.

"Harry?"

Harry turned back to Quatre to see what the teen wanted. "Would you like me to bring you something to eat?"

"I'm not…" Harry started to say he wasn't hungry only to pause when his stomach growled in protest and Harry flushed bright red in mortification as he ducked his head.

"I guess your stomach decided to speak for itself, I'll be back shortly with a little something for you," Quatre replied with a warm smile and a soft laugh; his eyes sparkling with amusement as he turned to leave.

"I'll be fine… you don't have to trouble yourself on my account."

"Harry, you need to eat something," Heero insisted, earning a sharp glare and a frown from the wizard.

"It's no trouble at all," Quatre assured him as he paused halfway to the door and glanced back at Harry to give him another reassuring smile before continuing on his way out of the room.

Harry watched the blonde go with mixed feelings before he turned to warily watch the other three teens, paying closer attention to Heero out of necessity (due to his oath). Trowa seemed to be ignoring him completely as he cleaned up the mess he'd made when pulling the stitches from Harry's knee. Duo was sprawled across the end of the bed still, his head propped up on one elbow and his feet bouncing slightly as he grinned at Harry. Heero, on the other hand, just stood there with his hands in his pockets as he watched Harry in return with an unreadable expression on his face.

"So what do ya like ta do for fun, kiddo? Aside from ruin perfectly workin' Gundams, that is," Duo asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. The long haired teen yelped a few seconds later as Heero reached out and slapped him upside the head a second time.

"Huh?" Harry uttered in confusion as he glanced between the two pilots and tried to figure out just what the hell was going on between the two of them.

"Ya know… do ya play sports? Read books? Play games? Blow things up? What do ya do when you're bored? Me, I like ta tinker with da junk I find lyin' around."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious and want ta get ta know ya better," Duo replied with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Harry opened his mouth to retort only to pause as he furrowed his brow in confusion as he stared at the grinning teen. After a another couple of minutes he let out a huff and uncurled just enough to ease the growing ache in his left knee before finally consenting to answer the annoying pilot's question, "I don't really have any hobbies and it's been nearly two years since I've had time to have fun."

"Surely there must be something you like to do," Trowa interjected with a hint of surprise over Harry's response.

"I used to fly at school but I don't… that is I haven't really felt like flying much for a long time."

"Flyin' really? Fancy yourself a pilot then huh? What model do ya usually fly?"

Harry just shrugged and shook his head, uncertain whether they would believe him if he told them that he flew a broom, not a plane, and he wasn't certain of just how much he wanted to tell the teens because he still didn't know if there was a magical society on this Earth. If there was, there was a high probability that they had the same laws that made it illegal to tell muggles about the wizarding world like there had been on his Earth; which meant he was already in serious trouble for revealing the magical world to Heero.

"Well, if ya don't want ta talk about flyin' why don't ya tell us what else ya like ta do."

Harry sighed as he dropped his chin down onto his right knee and muttered, "No."

"Ah, come on; don't be like that. Can't ya give us something ta work with here?"

Irritated over the teen's persistence, Harry hissed angrily as he grabbed hold of the first thing his hands came into contact with (which just happened to be the hot water bottle he'd been holding against his chest) and flung it at Duo as hard as he could. The long haired pilot would have been hit in the face with the fast flying water bottle if not for Heero reaching out and snagging the thing out of the air at the last second. Furious over the intervention, Harry immediately began searching for something else to throw.

"Harry, stop," Heero ordered as he moved closer to where Harry was sitting. "You need to calm down before you end up hurting yourself."

Snarling, Harry ignored the warning twinge of pain centered over his heart as he purposefully ignored the order, grabbed hold of the pillow behind him, and smacked Heero in the face with it. The pillow was then yanked out of his hands by a scowling Heero as he pulled it back in preparation for a second strike and Harry sneered at him in defiance even as he began having difficulty breathing through the growing pain. The pillow exploded in a cloud of feathers an instant later as Harry's magic lashed out violently in response to his anger and Harry screamed as the pain of fighting his oath centered in his heart exploded outwards and ripped through his still tender chest in retaliation.

He felt as if he was drowning as the crushing weight of his oath demanded his immediate compliance; his magic singing angrily as it burned through his veins in response to his attempt to break his oath. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'll stop… please… I won't disobey again… please, no more," Harry pleaded as he coughed up blood and desperately clutched at his chest as he pitched forward and curled up into a ball.

Exhaustion swept through him the instant he stopped fighting his oath; his magic withdrawing back into his core and taking most of the pain with it. A single broken sob passed through Harry's lips along with more blood as his words trailed off and he stopped moving. The three pilots stared at Harry in shock and horror for several seconds before Trowa and Heero both darted forward and gently uncurled Harry so they could make certain the wizard was still alive. It didn't take them long to confirm that his heart was still beating, if weak and sluggishly, and that he was still breathing.

Harry felt hands rolling him over onto his side as someone wiped his face free of blood and he weakly swatted at the towel swiping at his faces as he hissed out a weak and petulant, "No touch."

"Just try to relax, Harry, we're trying to help you," Heero gently suggested as he grabbed Harry's hands and prevented him from blocking him again; the former perfect soldier more than a little shaken over the rather violent episode in the wake of Harry's defiance (the pint-sized teen's earlier two fits of disobedience mild in comparison).

"Can you take a deep breath for me, Harry?" Trowa asked as he placed his ear against Harry's back; making the pint sized seventeen year old stiffen and whimper in response to the contact.

"Easy, Harry; Barton just wants to listen to your lungs to make certain they aren't filling up with blood. The sooner you take a couple of deep breaths the sooner it will be over."

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was curled up with the hot water bottle (freshly refilled with hot water) pressed close to his chest once more. He was far more subdued than he had been after his earlier coughing fit; the memory of his own magic lashing out at him far too fresh in his mind. Both Duo and Trowa had both left once they were certain that Harry was out of immediate danger while Heero had remained behind to keep watch over the wizard. Harry was doing his level best to simply ignore the teen as he lay on his side with his eyes closed while he tried to ignore the lingering ache in his chest.

It wasn't too much later that Quatre finally returned carrying a tray holding a bowl and a single glass. The moment the soft click of the door being opened reached Harry's ears, he'd opened his eyes and lifted his head just enough to see who had entered the room (already knowing no one was leaving it since he knew that Heero was still perched on the bed behind him). Once he identified the person as Quatre, Harry dropped his head back down onto the replacement pillow that Trowa had provided before he left and let his eyes fall closed once more. He opened his eyes again when he heard the sound of metal sliding against wood as Quatre set the tray on the nightstand sitting beside the bed but made no effort to greet the other teen or sit up.

"Would you like me to help you sit up so you can eat, Harry?" Quatre inquired the moment he noticed Harry's eyes were open.

"Not hungry."

"Harry, we discussed this earlier; you need to eat something. You can sit up on your own or one of us can help you sit up but either way you need to sit up and eat."

"Yes, sir," Harry snapped back halfheartedly as a flash of resentment swept through him before he squashed it ruthlessly and struggled to push his way clear of the covers that Trowa had pulled up over him earlier. A hand floated into his line of sight and Harry hissed and shied back away from it only to freeze in confusion when the hand merely pulled the covers down off of him to make it easier for him to sit up on his own. Swallowing thickly, Harry timidly glanced up at the individual attached to said hand to find Quatre smiling at him in encouragement and Harry shifted nervously as he croaked out a soft, "Er… thank you."

"You're welcome," Quatre replied as he settled the tray he'd carried into the room onto Harry's lap the moment Harry had finally managed to prop himself up against the headboard.

Harry ducked his head and awkwardly picked up the spoon on the tray in order to avoid meeting either teens' eyes. He gave the bowl of soup on his lap a stir, his mind automatically identifying the individual ingredients that he could both see and smell. Four long years of potion classes with the Slytherins and Snape had taught him to analyze any substance placed before him in order to avoid explosions or an intentional poisoning and being in the company of strangers in a strange house meant that he was on high alert.

After a thorough inspection of the proffered food, Harry tentatively took a small bite; letting the food sit on his tongue for a moment as he carefully chewed the vegetables while continuing his analysis of the soup. After a few cautious bites, Harry felt certain that they weren't trying to poison or drug him and he simply enjoyed the first home cooked meal he'd had in a long time.

Sure, there'd been times when he'd cooked for himself over the last two years but for the most part he never bothered because it was easier to make a sandwich or grab the ready made food Sirius had provided for him since cooking always reminded him of his time with the Dursleys. And while he might have denied it outright if asked, he had been far hungrier than he thought he was and it felt nice to have something warm in his stomach. He was actually a bit surprised when he found the bowl empty sometime later when it seemed like he'd just started eating.

"If you are still hungry, I can get you another bowl."

Jumping a bit over the unexpected offer due to the fact that he'd forgotten that he wasn't alone in the room and because he wasn't used to such kindnesses, Harry blushed and stuttered, "N… no th…thank you; I'm okay for now. That was m…more than I usually eat in one sitting. It… it was very good."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it; if you change your mind and wish to have seconds, just let me know," Quatre urged as he moved the tray so it wasn't in his way.

Harry nodded hesitantly as he slipped down curled up on his side once more; tensing momentarily when he felt someone pulling the covers back up over him. A glance over his shoulder revealed that Heero was still in the room and he scowled at the brunette before retrieving the hot water bottle that he'd abandoned in order to eat and snuggled into the pillow as the pleasant warmth of both water bottle and meal eased the lingering ache in his chest. The soothing warmth soon began pulling him under and Harry fought against falling asleep for a few minutes until a soft order from Heero sent him into the arms of Morpheus.

He woke up sometime later when he felt fingers running through his hair and he mistakenly thought he was in the hospital wing once more with his godfather hovering over him. "I just had the scariest dream, Sirius," Harry murmured without opening his eyes; never noticing that the hand stroking his hair stopped moving the moment he started speaking. "More like a nightmare really."

"What did you dream about?"

Harry frowned when he noticed Sirius's voice sounded off but he shrugged it off as he answered the question, "I dreamt that you sent me away because everyone betrayed me and you wanted to protect me. You had me half convinced that Dumbledore was plotting my death because he wanted to use the Potter Fortune to take over the world. I should have known it was a dream… you'd never send me away like that, would you, Sirius? You even messed up whatever spell you used to send me away. You shrank me down to the size of a seven year old and let me tell you being short sucks; even in a dream."

"Was that all there was to your dream?"

"No… there were these giant robots that kept attacking each other, only they had people inside of them. But you know what the strangest thing was? The whole world was filled with nothing teenagers. I was there for two years in my dreams and not once did I see any adults. Do you think I dreamt it was kids killing kids because Voldemort's back now? I mean; it seems like he's been trying to kill me since I started Hogwarts and I know he'll come after me again which means my friends will be in danger too. I wish I knew why he wanted me dead so badly; Dumbledore knows why but he wouldn't tell me when I asked. He said I was too young. How come you're still here with me? I thought Dumbledore sent you to gather… to gather the old crowd. Hey, Sirius, who exactly is the old crowd, anyway?"

Harry finally opened his eyes as he asked that last question only to start when he came face to face with a blonde haired, blue eyed teen instead of his godfather and he let out a strangled whimper. Tears pricked at the back of his eyes as he felt a sense of hopelessness well up inside of him as reality slammed into him once more. His godfather _had_ sent him away and he was trapped in a world full of teenagers that killed each other with giant robots.

"You know… some of the scariest nightmares are those that are based on reality," Quatre gently supplied as he once again ran his fingers through Harry's hair causing Harry to flinch and shift away. "I am willing to listen, if you wish to talk about what is bothering you."

"Why?"

"Because I can feel your pain and I wish to help you."

"You can feel… are you an empath?"

"I suppose that is one way to describe my ability," Quatre agreed with a nod. "Does that bother you?"

"No… I'm just surprised," Harry replied as he relaxed enough to let his eyes search the room for the other three teens he'd met only to discover that he was alone with Quatre for the first time; something that surprisingly didn't bother him as much as he would have originally thought it would. "I didn't think there were any wizards in this world since no one ever came looking for me after I started using my magic again. It is frightening to think you are all alone in the world and know that there is no one out there who will understand you because they can't possibly relate to you because you are nothing like them."

"You don't see yourself as human?" Quatre asked in surprise.

"No, I'm human but it has been my experience that there are those without magic who see those of us with magic as less than human. Of course, there are those witches and wizards that see people who have no magic as worse than animals. I suppose it is human nature to either loathe those who are different or simply pretend that they don't exist because they can't be bothered to look beyond those differences and see that in the end we are all the same."

"That was a surprisingly insightful and mature observation. Can you tell me exactly what you mean by magic?"

"You don't know? But… but… aren't you a wizard? I thought… when you said you could… I thought maybe you were…"

"You thought I was what, Harry?"

"I thought you were like me," Harry whispered softly with a trace of regret lacing his tone. "I guess I really am nothing more than a freak no matter what world I live in."

"I hardly think that possessing abilities that other people don't have makes you a freak."

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes as he muttered, "Tell that to the rest of the world."

"Does it really matter what the rest of the world thinks?"

"Yeah, it does," Harry replied as he turned his thoughts inwards and recalled the way his fellow students had treated him during his second year and again during his fourth year after his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire. "No matter how hard you try to ignore it; being shunned and reviled by everyone around you just because you have a rare ability hurts. As does being called an attention seeking liar because you are forced into something against your will and you find that not even your supposed best friend of three years is willing to listen to the truth."

"Surely there must have been someone who stood beside you during those times," Quatre insisted quietly. "And wasn't there anyone else that shared the same ability as you who you could have talked to about it?"

"Oh, yeah, that would have been smart; let's go talk to the man who terrorized an entire society for over twenty years because you share the same dark ability he has and hope he'll make you feel better about being called a murdering dark lord in the making. And let's just forget that he's the same murdering bastard that not only killed your parents and hundreds of others but has been trying to kill you since before you were out of nappies."

"A simple no would have sufficed," Quatre dryly remarked in the wake of Harry's cutting sarcasm.

"Yeah… well… you brought up a rather sore subject," Harry muttered as he tried to unsuccessfully hold back the mortified blush that was creeping up the back of his neck and over his cheeks in response to the gentle admonishment.

"You know holding onto the pain doesn't make it any easier to cope with what you have been through; in fact, the longer it festers the harder it becomes to deal with."

"Kind of hard to talk to someone about the mess that is your life when they are too busy fawning over you because you are famous for something you had no control over or they can only see the pound signs because they know you are far richer than you ever imagined. Even more difficult to find someone to talk to when you are banished from your entire world and find yourself stranded alone on a deserted island for nearly two years."

"You are not alone now, Harry," Quatre softly reminded Harry.

"No, I'm not," Harry agreed slowly as he pinned Quatre with turbulent emerald eyes. "I'm currently trapped in a house with at least four perfect strangers whom I'm not certain I can trust."

"We aren't going to hurt you and we aren't here to judge you. I also doubt there is anything you could have possibly done to make us hate you."

The look in Harry's eyes turned haunted as he hoarsely demanded, "And would you still feel that way if I told you that I killed a man several years ago? That I burned him to death just because I touched him with my bare hands?"

"Hearing that saddens me because I can feel the pain that you feel over whatever happened. Knowing that you took another life isn't going to make me hate you or wish to hurt you though; especially considering the fact that you've not told me what led up to the man's death. I already know that you aren't happy that you took his life. That tells me that you didn't set out to kill him on purpose which leaves only two possible scenarios; his death was either an accident or you killed him in self-defense."

"He was trying to strangle me. I just wanted him to stop and when I grabbed his hands with mine; his skin began blistering and smoking. He immediately let go and screamed in pain. When he tried to attack me a second time, I purposefully grabbed his face with my hands and he screamed in agony as he turned to ash beneath my hands."

"You said he was attacking you when that happened; it sounds to me like what ever it was you did was done in self defense. Have you ever burned someone else like that?"

"Not exactly… at least not anyone that burned to death but I did burn my uncle on more than one occasion."

"And was he hurting you each time it happened?"

"What does it matter? Normal people don't burn people with just a touch of their hands."

"And what do you think normal people do when someone is hurting them?"

"Scream or run away."

"You don't think a normal person would fight back? You don't think a normal person would try and hurt the person who was hurting them? Maybe even kill whoever was hurting them to save their own life and stop the pain?"

"I don't know… maybe."

"What is it that bothers you; the fact that you have something inside of you that protects you from those that hurt you or the fact that you killed someone to protect yourself? Or is it that you are afraid that you will hurt someone on accident because of that power you have? Or do you think maybe it scares you because you wish to use that power to intentionally kill someone for any number of reasons because they have caused you harm."

"I… I don't want to be a murderer. I don't want to be like _him_."

"Who? Who is it you don't want to be like?"

"Voldemort."

"And what is it he does?" Quatre asked gently as he reached out and brushed Harry's bangs out of his face so he could meet Harry's troubled eyes; Harry far too caught up in his memories this time to flinch away from the touch.

"He enjoys killing people and torturing them just to hear them scream. He doesn't care who he hurts; he even tortures the people that follow him if they make mistakes or do something he doesn't like."

"And is that something you see yourself doing?"

"I don't know… I'm afraid it will be."

"What makes you say that?"

"I… I told Heero I was going to kill him and there is a part of me that wants to kill him."

"Why?"

"I pulled him off the beach because I thought he needed help; even though I would have rather left him there because I was scared. I took him home because a small part of me always wished someone would have helped me when I needed it. And the first thing he did after he woke up was threaten to kill me," Harry replied tightly as he shivered in response to the memory of the day he found Heero on the beach. "I treated his threat like a joke; I couldn't help myself at the time because I've been given more death threats than birthday and Christmas presents combined over the last sixteen years. I thought maybe he was just afraid because he woke up in a strange place so I wasn't really afraid of him; I didn't think I needed to be afraid of him because when I first found him he didn't feel like a threat."

"What happened to change the way you felt about him?"

"I think I made him mad that first night and when he tried to attack me I strung him up and left him to sulk in silence for hours. I didn't sleep well that night because of… well I didn't sleep well and the next day I was moodier than usual and when he irritated me with his nosiness, I kicked him out since he really didn't need my help. I gave him food, showed him the way out, and figured I'd seen the last of him. Because I wasn't thinking straight, I let my guard down and he attacked me from behind after he saw the giant robots I had pulled from the sea."

Harry paused and scrubbed at his face for a moment before he continued, "He demanded to know why I had them but I didn't know what he was talking about because until the robot things fell from the sky I'd never seen anything like them and had no idea what they really were or even what they were called. He didn't believe me and he threatened me. He hit me a few times and while it hurt it wasn't that bad; my cousin and his gang used to beat me up regularly enough that a few blows here and there aren't that big of deal. A small part of me was scared though because my magic still didn't see him as a threat at that point but I was far too angry to care because he called me a liar."

"Did he do anything else after that?"

"He shot me with his gun… I moved but not enough and it burned. I could feel what ever it was he shot me with burning through both skin and bone. It felt ten times worse than anything I'd ever felt before; not even Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse hurt that bad and being Cruciated is enough to make one wish for death. I begged for mercy; something that not even Voldemort had been able to make me do and I was ashamed to find I was so weak. It was at that point that he indicated he wanted to know about one of the robots I found. I told him that I used magic to haul it out of the ocean but he didn't believe me and he didn't trust me to show him how I did it. I told him I'd swear an oath not to attack him but he… he…"

"He what?" Quatre gently prompted when Harry trialed off and began shivering as the blood drained from his face.

"He demanded I swear an oath of obedience to him or he'd destroy every bone in my body. I hated him in that moment but I hated myself more because I was too weak to fight him, too terrified to risk the pain, and so I swore the oath. And now I might as well be nothing more than a slave because if I don't do what he tells me to my magic will prompt me to obey. If I try to refuse my magic will give me a warning before it lashes out at me and causes me pain. If after that I were to still refuse, then my magic will kill me."

"And has he used that oath to hurt you or make you do inappropriate things?"

"No… he mostly just ordered me the never lie to him, to never use magic on him unless it will save a life, and to stop fighting him when he picks me up or tries to help me. And there were a couple of times when he made me let him take care of my injuries even though I could do it myself. He hasn't even stopped me from calling him names or anything even though he could. And even though I hate him and I am frightened of what he can do to me; my magic still won't see Heero as a threat."

"Would you say he was abusing the oath you gave him?"

"No… but that doesn't mean I like it. I don't need anyone to take care of me nor do I want anyone to protect me. He has no right to die for me and those who try to protect me always end up hurt if not dead. Just like my mum… Voldemort was going to let her live; all she had to do was step aside. Sirius tried to protect me from Moony and he nearly lost his soul because of me, Cedric died because he was with me when Voldemort kidnapped me from the school, and Sirius died anyway because he came back to save me from Dumbledore when he sent me away."

"You know, none of what you just told me sounds like you need to be afraid that you are going to become like this Voldemort person you keep mentioning. You are justifiably angry with Heero for abusing the trust you showed him when you opened your home to him and because he hurt you after you tried to help him. I don't think that makes you a terrible person. It also sounds like you are more than a little afraid that Heero will end up dead."

"Duo tried to kill him when he first showed up because Heero was chasing me across the beach when I was trying to escape. Heero would have let him too if I hadn't stopped the robot first," Harry muttered as he ran his hand over his eyes to wipe away the tears he hadn't realized he was crying. "Stupid jerk of a jumped up jarvey tried to order me to run away and save myself."

"Which also would have left you alone again," Quatre insightfully pointed out as he stood up. "I think maybe you should get some rest now; I can feel your exhaustion. I would like to thank you for trusting me enough to tell me part of what has been bothering you and hope you can rest a little easier after getting that off your chest. We can talk again later if you wish."

Harry felt more than a little confused as he watched Quatre gather up the tray holding his empty bowl from earlier (leaving the untouched glass of water behind) and leave the room with a friendly wave and a smile. He was also more than a little shocked that he'd been so willing to pour his heart out to the other teen when they'd only just met; something he'd originally had no intention of doing. Harry knew that part of the reason he snapped at Heero, Duo, and Trowa was because he didn't want to grow close to any of them because he was afraid they would only hurt or betray him. He'd been prepared to do the same with Quatre but there was something about the blonde that prevented Harry from directing too much of his anger at the teen.

Not wanting to dwell on the confusing turn of events least he give himself a migraine, Harry closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off back to sleep as Quatre suggested.

* * *

**Notes:**

* "They're violent and dangerous, but they're all really nice guys." One of Quatre's quotes from the series but I can't remember what episode or issue it was in.

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**AN:** _Ya know, when I first sat down to write this story, I didn't intentionally set out to introduce Harry to each of the pilots in numerical order and yet somehow that is exactly what happened. Didn't even realize I'd done it until I was prepping these past few chapters for posting. Anyway, Harry's now met four of the five Gundam pilots and will soon meet the fifth. After the next chapter things will start picking up again as the events from the GW canon verse come to pass (though you can expect several of those events to unfold differently than they did in canon). I just needed to set the stage so to speak._

_I know the background information provided in this chapter is a bit tedious and I tried to keep it as short as I could (which is why I didn't go into all of the events from Harry's first four years at Hogwarts). The next chapter will have the five pilots sitting down together for the first time and will show their reactions to everything they've learned about Harry's past, his abilities, and in regards to Harry's bi-polar and mercuric attitude. _

_For those of you who are confused about the bit where Harry's magic lashes out at him for trying to break his oath; the pain his magic inflicts originates from his magical core which is physically near the heart (something that will be further explained in detail later in the story). I'm only mentioning it now because it almost sounds like Harry's heart burst during the outburst but it was in actuality the pain radiating out from his heart (and core) at the time. I tried to make that clear in the story but it seemed like no matter how I worded that part it still sounded like I was killing him. _

_Anywho… I'd like to thank everyone whose left a review; each and everyone of them are appreciated even if I didn't get a chance to reply to your review personally (nothing personal but as I've often stated I don't care for the review system on this sight because I can't keep track of which reviews I've answered and which ones I haven't and going to my outgoing PMs each time to keep track is migraine inducing, not to mention time consuming). I look forward to hearing what everyone has thought of this chapter and hope to have the next chapter up soon! ~ Jenn_


	11. A Pact between Pilots

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter contains a brief mention of implied rape (no details have been given)._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 10: A Pact between Pilots

Two floors below the room where Harry was once more sleeping, four of the five Gundam pilots that had been sent to Earth in order to prevent a war had gathered together in Quatre's office. This would be their first official meeting as they had spent much of the last two weeks servicing and repairing their Gundams (or trying to in Duo's case), taking turns watching over the kid, and completing an assortment of missions that they'd been given by the five scientists that had trained them. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife as Quatre finally joined the other four.

"I take it all four of you were listening in?" Quatre asked rhetorically as he sat down, logged into the laptop that had been waiting for him, and locked onto the hidden surveillance cameras he'd set up to monitor the sleeping child.

"What exactly is so important about the kid?" Wufei demanded with a frown before anyone could respond to Quatre's question. "Why aren't we shipping him off to some place where he'll be safe? Kids his age have no business being involved in a war."

"I doubt there is any place on earth he'd be safe for very long," Duo stated as he fiddled with his laptop for a moment in order to activate the laptop's projector. "What you're about ta see is a partial video of my first encounter with da kid that I managed ta recover from Deathscythe's surveillance cameras; it's maybe a ten minute sequence leadin' up ta da moment da systems were fried."

As one, the other four pilots turned to face the wall where the video output appeared and watched as Duo's first contact with Heero and Harry played out. More than one mouth dropped open or frowned when the kid faced off against the Gundam and successfully disarmed the mobile suit of its main energy weapon using what appeared to be nothing more than a beam of red light and a stick. The three pilots who were not there that day were further shocked (and more than a little troubled) when the next red light flew directly at the cameras before everything suddenly went black as the video ended.

"When da first light connected and tore my scythe from da suit's right hand, I lost all control of da right arm. Da second light shut da rest of da suit down da instant it hit," Duo explained as he typed away on his keyboard for a moment. "I just sent everyone da photos that were taken of da inner circuitry of Deathscythe and as ya can see every single circuit board was fried. Every single system in my suit was overloaded in da exact same instant and there was nothing I could have done ta stop it even if I'd known it was comin' except maybe dodge da attack. I didn't even have time ta do that though before I was hit. Then there's da fact that my suit is currently half of its actual size; which makes it impossible to fully repair at the moment let alone operate."

"So we destroy the weapon the kid used and be done with it," Wufei suggested impatiently.

Heero pulled out one of his pistols and slid it across the table so that it stopped right in front of Wufei before he leaned forward and coldly stated, "You want to destroy the weapon? Be my guest, he's sleeping right now. All you have to do is walk in that room and put a bullet in his head."

"Man you're such a drama queen, Hee-man," Duo barked in agitation. "What Mr. Antisocial here was tryin' ta say is that there is no weapon ta destroy because it was da kid who fried my Gundam's circuitry. At least that is what Heero told me when I was tryin' ta learn more about da weapon durin' my brief sojourn as a prisoner."

"You are referring to what Mr. Potter has been calling his magic, correct?" Wufei asked as he pulled up several frozen images of a trio of Leo suits exploding as they ran into an invisible wall on his laptop along with an image that had been captured from when the pillow Heero had been holding earlier exploded for seemingly no reason and projected all of the pictures onto the wall where Duo's video had played out.

"We've all seen evidence of an unseen energy field on the beach in Japan from the day when Maxwell's Gundam had reportedly gone missing and again to a lesser extent on the night we converged on that beach to search for both missing Gundams. Any suit that came into contact with that energy field malfunctioned and self-destructed, projectile weapons fired at it failed to penetrate the protective field but it didn't seem to have any affect beam weaponry. The last picture is, of course, from the incident earlier this evening when a pillow exploded much the same way that the suits exploded."

"We also lost two of the surveillance cameras in Harry's room (the ones closest to the bed) at the same time as the pillow exploded," Quatre added as he pulled up a digital diagram of the room with the two cameras in question marked in red. "Scanner readings taken during the incident indicated an influx of energy building up around Harry just seconds before it exploded outwards; destroying the pillow and the cameras within seconds of the outburst. Initial analysis of the energy field on the beach and of the child's outburst earlier this morning has confirmed that both occurrences have near identical spectrum signatures. Even with the slight differences, chances are high that Harry was the source of both anomalies; which we'll be able to easily confirm or refute by monitoring any future outbursts."

"He called them wards," Heero explained once Quatre had finished. "Based upon what I learned from the kid, he placed a ninety by forty foot stretch of the beach under a series of enchantments that hid the selected area, prevented those that wished him harm from crossing the spells, turned away those without magic, and hid the existence of the cave."

"Apparently, there was a flaw in the wards since Maxwell, the Alliance, and Chang were able to detect presence of the wards; if not the area hidden by the wards. Part of that was due to the explosions Harry created when he was excavating a second cave in which he planned to hide my Gundam and the Alliance Leo that he'd pulled out of the sea and the other part was due to the malfunctioning suits that came into contact with said wards. I don't have any explanation as to why the pillow exploded though, except that Harry had been extremely angry at Maxwell at the time."

"It was da unexplained seismic activity that led me ta that particular island," Duo confirmed as he pointedly ignored the part he'd played in annoying and upsetting the pint sized wizard earlier.

"You are implying that you believe Potter's claims that magic exists?" Trowa asked skeptically.

"I too was skeptical when he first told me about his magic. However, I saw him raise my Gundam suit two feet off the ground without touching it, create a safety bunker out of nothing but rock and sand, and watched him destroy roughly five feet of near solid rock wall using the stick he calls his wand," Heero interjected rationally as he tried to give them an idea of what he knew the kid was capable of achieving based upon his limited knowledge. "I then witnessed him drop a Gundam with two bursts of red light and stood beside him as he moved that same Gundam with a swish of his wand, cut its size in half, and sent it flying over our heads with merely a thought."

"I also watched him remove his left femur and knee cap, which was pretty badly damaged from when I'd shot him, and grow it back in a single night using some rather foul concoctions he called potions. And each one of you has seen with your own eyes the state of Maxwell's Gundam and I know each of you saw what happened earlier this afternoon. And while I suppose his abilities could be perceived as mere Newtype Talents; labeling them as such wouldn't fully explain the sheer potential the brat possesses. Newtypes with telekinetic abilities can't vanish and regrow bones, they can't make tons of solid rock vanish, and they can't shrink an object. Newtypes also very rarely ever exhibit more than one Talent and based upon what I have learned from the kid, I've only seen a small fraction of what he is capable of doing with his magic."

"If what you say is true; the child will be in danger the moment OZ learns of him and his abilities. They will either turn him into some kind of weapon or will use him as breeding stock in an attempt to breed hundreds of weapons; providing that they don't just attempt to recreate his ability through genetic experimentation," Wufei concluded, the young Asian teen accepting the idea of magic far easier than any of the others (due to his cultural background) with the exception of Quatre who found it believable due to his empathetic ability.

"How did a child with his abilities slip through the system in the first place though?" Quatre mused. "He seems to believe that he came from another world; do you think it possible that he was born on one of the Colonies before being abandoned here on Earth?"

"I doubt it, he seemed genuinely shocked to discover there were people living in space when I mentioned the Colonies in passing the night after he found me," Heero replied. "None of the names we've managed to glean from him or other sources (including his own) have turned up any positive matches either; which in some ways lends credence to his insistence that he isn't from this world or is an indication of a severe mental illness coupled with some rather realistic lies and exceptional acting skills."

"What other sources?"

"Medical records that cover a period of four years, several handwritten journals, and a letter addressed ta da kid that was supposedly written by his godfather," Duo replied as he reached down and lifted five thick file folders filled with numerous printouts from the chair beside him and passed one of them to each of the other pilots while keeping the last one for himself. "I spent much of my free time over da past two weeks scannin' and enlargin' everything we'd found onta an unconnected laptop and printed off hard copies for everyone since I can't exactly work on my Gundam at da moment. Da first printout is a copy of da letter that supposedly explains how and why da kid ended up where he did."

As the other three pilots skimmed through the letter, medical reports, and journal entries; Heero and Duo spent the time silently reflecting (Heero) or monitoring the video feed of Harry sleeping peacefully (Duo). It was easy to know when each of the three teens reached those medical reports and journal entries that confirmed the suspicions that the letter had raised about Harry being physically violated by one of the adults in his life. Much like Heero and later Duo, the remaining three pilots reacted quite strongly; either growing sick over revelation or swearing up a storm as they nearly ripped the printouts in half.

"I know it never came up in my earlier conversation with the child; but has Harry given any verbal confirmation that he remembers what was done to him by that… that monster masquerading as a teacher?" Quatre asked in a low voice laced with barely constrained rage. "I'd also like to know exactly what the child meant when he said you'd demanded that he swear an oath to you. I was more than a little disturbed and angered over the implication that you'd basically forced him to become your slave through such an the oath."

"Only once has Harry made any kind of reference to what that teacher had done to him and that was only in passing. His behavior lends credence to the information contained in both the medical records and in the journal entries though," Heero replied wearily as he blatantly ignored the matter of Harry's oath. "He is extremely uncomfortable with even partial nudity, doesn't like to be touched at all, and as you witnessed earlier he will lash out violently when his personal space is invaded. If he is placed in a vulnerable position he will descend into a full blown panic attack; this is most especially true if there is physical contact with him at the time."

"He also uses anger ta shield himself," Duo added. "He has a knack with sarcasm and seeks ta put ya off balance by his talk of death or by pushin' your buttons ta make ya angry enough ta forget what ya'd wanted in da first place. And while he is willin' to lash out physically; his attacks are, for the most part, ineffective unless he's lucky enough to catch you off guard and even then it is obvious that he lacks proper trainin' in self-defense."

Heero finished with, "Then there are the nightmares he suffers from, his constant mood swings, and I've found he has a tendency to rant out loud to himself at odd moments when he thinks he's alone or if he thinks it will throw you off balance. He also isn't afraid to use his magic to his advantage though despite his verbal threats he hasn't actually sought to harm anyone with his magic that I have seen."

Silence fell over the room as all of them considered everything they had learned and the implications of Heero's and Duo's brief analysis of Harry's skills (or lack there of) and mental stability until Wufei demanded, "And the matter of you turning Mr. Potter into your personal slave? I'm also curious as to why you felt the need to threaten a mere child, regardless of his true age, with brutal torture; his body never would have been able to withstand such physical torment. It is disgraceful to think that you would use such tactics on a civilian child; have you no honor?"

"And how many civilians did your honor spare after they laid eyes upon your Gundam?" Heero countered emotionlessly as he calmly met Wufei's angry gaze. "I may not be proud of what I said and did that night but can you honestly say that you wouldn't have done the same thing if you had been in my place?"

"I don't kill women or children and those individuals that were unfortunate enough to have seen me have died a quick and painless death," Wufei retorted with a sneer. "I have tortured no one for there is no honor or justice in torture. Nor have I enslaved anyone."

"I did not enslave the brat; even if that is how he sees it," Heero sighed as he broke eye contact with the Asian teen and crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair. "I have no intention of ever forcing him to do anything demeaning nor would I order him to do anything that goes against his moral code. I also allowed him to dictate the basic terms of his oath and merely proofread them to insure that he didn't try anything underhanded before he swore the oath."

"So what did ya make him swear?" Duo asked with more then a hint of anger in his voice when Heero didn't say anything further.

"And why did you make him swear an oath at all? What purpose does that oath serve aside from binding the child to you unwillingly?" Quatre asked at the same time.

"Originally, it was to get the truth out of the kid and at the time I still hadn't believed that his abilities stemmed from what he was calling his magic. Once I had the answers I needed, that oath became the only guarantee I had that the kid would listen to me. In truth, the oath that Harry gave me is not much different than the oath one would give upon enlistment into any armed forces; if you ignore the part about his magic preventing him from breaking the oath. Like any common soldier, he is only required to follow orders; not labor away to fulfill my every whim."

"Are you certain that you aren't just using that as an excuse to feel better about yourself after you forced him to give you that oath?" Wufei demanded snidely. "While the penalty of questioning or disobeying one's orders under an oath of fealty can be quite severe; it is very rare for there to be any torture or pain involved in their punishment unless they turn traitor. We all witnessed what happens to Mr. Potter when he dared to disobey the order you give him earlier. How can you justify holding him to that oath knowing that your next command could cause him even more pain or end up killing him?"

"The oath he gave me was very specific in its wording and it allows him some control over which orders he is required to obey, within reason. He only suffers when he refuses to follow a reasonable order," Heero explained patiently. "If he were to refuse an unreasonable order, than he would not suffer at all. The order I had given him earlier was more than reasonable as I was ordering him to calm down so that he did not hurt himself further in his anger."

"I could have ordered him to never again get angry at Maxwell and he could have disobeyed that order without suffering any consequences because it would have been unreasonable of me to expect him to shut down his emotions completely when Maxwell does something stupid to antagonize him. The little brat is exceedingly stubborn and he has a tendency to disregard his own health; hence his tendency to disobey those orders that require him to be more careful. His act of defiance earlier was his third such act and I am guessing that more than half of the pain he felt at the time was due to his recent illness rather than just a result of his disobedience."

"Each of you witnessed his second act of disobedience less than an hour ago when you watched Maxwell's video detailing the incapacitation of his Gundam suit. Harry refused to obey my order for him to run twice. The first time, he clutched at his chest in pain much as he had earlier when he refused to calm down. The second time he refused to obey my command to run, he apparently felt nothing despite the fact that he was still disobeying. In other words, he interpreted my order to save himself as unreasonable because doing so could have potentially seen me dying; something he considered unacceptable at the time."

Heero paused as he leaned forward to look each of the other pilots in the eye before he continued, "Harry is not a slave and I have no intentions of turning him into one. I will not force him to become a soldier against his will and I will not use his oath to break him. The only thing I will use his oath to do is make certain that he takes care of himself and that he doesn't pull any stupid stunts that could get himself killed."

"Harry did admit that you haven't been abusing his oath," Quatre allowed after taking a few minutes to consider Heero's explanation and analyze the brunette's emotions. "That you have not taken him to task for insulting you, have not tried to control his attitude, or forbade him from speaking his mind lends credence to your proclamation that you do not intend to abuse the oath he gave you; even if the oath was given under duress."

"Irrelevant," Wufei interjected harshly. "I demand that Yuy immediately release the child from his oath. Just because he has not yet taken advantage of that oath does not mean that he won't at some point in the future."

"As much as I hate ta say it, I think releasin' da brat would be da worst thing ya could do for him right now," Duo countered grimly with great reluctance. "He might not be da street rat I took him for at first but it's obvious that da kid has not had an easy life. He has no sense of self worth and has on more than one occasion stated he'd prefer death ta acceptin' any help. He needs someone ta keep him from actively seekin' death 'cause da next person he asks ta kill him might not hesitate ta grant him what he thinks he wants."

"Potter is both mentally and emotionally unstable," Trowa agreed as he looked up from where he'd been hacking into the network of a medical supply company in France in order to purchase (steal) the equipment and supplies needed to run a complete scan of Harry's blood. "Not completely unexpected given his medical history; if those files that were found can be trusted. Without his oath to Yuy, Potter could do himself serious harm through sheer stubbornness; whether it was intentional or unintentional wouldn't really matter if the end result was his death."

"So, what, we're just going to let this injustice stand?" Wufei growled as he slammed his fist down on the table.

"At this point it would be the lesser of two evils," Trowa pointed out. "As much as I dislike the idea of limiting Potter's free will; it would be best to wait until he is mentally stable before tossing him to the wolves of society, so to speak. It would not require much effort on our part to monitor Yuy's interactions with Potter to insure that he does not start abusing said oath. At the same time, allowing the oath to stand allows us to keep Potter grounded until he is no longer a risk to himself."

Wufei huffed in agitation but said nothing further as he scowled at the table. Quatre sighed and pressed his hand to his chest as he glanced around at his fellow pilots. After another couple of minutes passed by in near silence, Quatre cleared his throat and stated, "While I personally abhor the idea of leaving Harry bound against his will, Trowa and Duo have given us legitimate reasons for allowing the oath to stand. Since the moment Harry regained consciousness yesterday afternoon, his emotions have been in a constant state of upheaval that could be equated to a maelstrom and it would not take much to push him over the edge at this point."

"We can always see to it that Harry's oath is released should it become detrimental to his health at any point down the line. In the mean time, I think we need to focus more on what we can do to help the child come to terms with his past and teach him how to survive on his own in order to bring him to the point where releasing him from his oath won't cause more problems than it will solve. We also need to come up with a way to prevent the Alliance or OZ from learning about Harry's abilities or, in the event that they do learn of his existence, prevent him from falling into their hands. That is presuming that we are all in agreement over the necessity of protecting Harry in the first place."

"I don't think we have much choice at this point," Duo declared as he propped his feet up on the table, leaned back in his chair, and laced his hands together behind his head. "Da only question that remains is; how are we going ta protect him?"

"Is he even going to allow us to protect him?" Trowa asked. "We all heard him as he poured his heart out to Winner; he doesn't want any one protecting him. Reading between the lines; he's terrified of others dying for him because he's witnessed far too many people get hurt or die and thinks each and every injury or death is his fault."

"Why don't we just train him to protect himself?" Wufei grudgingly suggested. "Pose the offer in such a way that he will not hesitate to accept it and while we are training him he will be close enough for us to watch over him without making him suspicious or resentful."

"Hello, Earth ta Wuff-man, in case ya hadn't noticed da kid is suspicious of everything and everyone."

"Not true," Trowa interjected. "He was surprisingly open with Winner; despite having only just met him."

"That's true, da kiddo did take ta our little Kumquat fairly quick like," Duo mused in amendment to his earlier statement.

"Must you insist on calling us by those ridiculous nicknames?" Wufei growled irritably.

"Sorry, long standin' habit and usually can't help myself."

"It would be sheer folly to use Harry's trust in Winner to manipulate him in any way," Heero firmly protested. "He would see it as a betrayal of the worst sort and we'd only drive him away and I have no doubt that if he really wanted, he could lead us on a merry chase all around the world and either go to ground where we can't find him or run straight into OZ forces and get caught by the very people we are trying to protect him from. Instead of tricking him, I will take care of getting him to cooperate. He already hates me so it will be no skin off my nose if he takes his anger out on me."

"That irritates ya, doesn't it, Hee-man?" Duo taunted with a hard grin, his eyes flashing violet as he sat up just enough to glare at the other teen. "It bothers ya that da little man hates your guts and blames ya for all of his troubles and then turns around and opens up ta someone else right off da bat."

"You're wrong," Heero replied softly as he turned his gaze downwards to stare at the palms of his hands, shocking the other four pilots as they had fully expected him to explode in anger over the audacity of Duo's taunts. "It's my own fault that Harry hates me and I can live with that because no matter how much he hates me he couldn't hate me more than I hate myself for what I did."

"Beating yourself up about the past isn't going to change it," Quatre interjected gently into the tense and uncomfortable silence that had fallen after Heero had spoken; his hand once again massaging his chest. "We were all told to allow no one to associate our faces with the Gundams; which translates into an order to kill those who see us with the Gundams. The real question is; are we all willing to work together? Not just to watch over Harry to make certain he doesn't fall into the wrong hands but also when it comes to stopping the war between the Earth and the Colonies. Because, let's face it; it was pretty arrogant and damn near stupid of us to expect to make a difference by ourselves. We were also desperate to do what we could no matter the risk."

"If we team up and work out of a centralized location we run a greater risk of getting caught," Wufei pointed out logically though he didn't actually sound as if he was opposed to the idea.

"Yet, if we continue to work alone we stand just as great a risk of failing spectacularly if we make even the smallest miscalculation," Trowa countered as he nodded at Quatre; openly acknowledging the blonde's timely intervention during the Corsica Base Mission. "Also, in regards to protecting the child; we need to limit the amount of contact he has with other people if at all possible until I can screen his blood for common antibodies to get an idea of which vaccines he still needs to receive."

"Why…?" Heero inquired with a small scowl.

"In order to prevent him from contracting yet another virus," Trowa replied as he frowned at his fellow pilot. "There is a high probability that either you or Maxwell was the one to introduce the Space Flu Virus to Mr. Potter's immune system based upon the fact that the two of you were the first people that he'd had contact with in almost two years according to everything we've learned about the kid. Space Flu takes anywhere from three to five days to incubate and you said he developed his fever within three days of Maxwell's arrival at the cave which was approximately forty-eight hours after you had first contact with the child."

"We also need to keep in mind that the child's immune system is still recovering from his recent illness; meaning that he will be far more susceptible to any new viruses or bacteria that are introduced into his system," Wufei added rationally as he drummed his fingers on the table. "His preference for avoiding physical contact will work in our favor in that regards. The five of us in this room and a small handful of the Maganac have already had some form of contact with the child so it would be a simple matter to restrict the number of individuals he has contact with for the time being."

"That would also allow Harry plenty of time to get used to those people he has officially met so far before introducing him to a bunch of new people and overwhelming him to the point that he runs off in a blind panic," Quatre thoughtfully added. "There's still the matter of whether or not we're all willing to work together; both in our effort to prevent war from breaking out between Earth and the Colonies and to make certain Harry is protected."

"What exactly did ya have in mind, Quatre?" Duo asked as he dropped his feet and sat up properly; the long haired teen dropping his usual playful attitude in light of the seriousness of the topic.

"We pool our resources in order to complete our various missions with the least amount of risk," Quatre replied without hesitation. "We set up a series of decoy bases across the world in order to sew confusion and make it look like we are still working independently. All five of us undoubtedly excelled during our training or I doubt we would have been chosen to pilot the Gundams; at the same time I've noticed that each of us have different strengths, both in and out of the suit, which if utilized properly would increase our chances of success for each mission."

"And the kid?" Trowa asked casually.

"I don't like the idea of keeping the child around when there is a risk that he will get caught up in a war that is not his responsibility especially considering how young he is; or rather how young he appears to be," Wufei stated grimly. "On the other hand, there really isn't anyone out there that we can trust to protect him aside from ourselves nor is there a safe place we could send him until the threat of the looming war has been dealt with and to leave him incapable of protecting himself in the event that the worst should happen would be unwise. So, logically, the best thing is for each of us to offer to teach him something he wishes or needs to learn in order to protect himself."

"And what do we do if he should decide he wants to fight beside us after we've given him the skills to protect himself?" Heero inquired logically based upon what he'd observed of the kid personality to date. "The moment he grows attached to any one of you; he's not going to just sit quietly on the sidelines while we all head off to do battle."

The five Gundam pilots spent another four hours discussing various possibilities; tempers flaring more than once as beliefs and opinions clashed on several occasions. Despite their many disagreements, they eventually came to an accord as they all basically wanted the same things; to prevent the looming war and protect the innocent lives that would be lost should they fail. Their plans to train Harry to protect himself were actually far easier to reach an agreement on as they each had something specific in mind that they could offer him.

Wufei would teach him how to use a sword (after hearing the kid had one) and hand to hand combat. Quatre would focus on bringing him up to speed on current events and see to it his level of education met or exceeded the current standards as well as help him deal with his past. Trowa would teach him how to handle a gun, how to throw and fight with a knife, and keep a close eye on the kids health (including teaching him basic first aide).

Duo would teach him how to survive on the streets (building on Harry's current instincts) and how to be a kid. And Heero would teach him how to build, repair, and use a computer including how to create software programs and viruses as well as how to hack into other computers and networks. Additionally, all five of them would teach Harry everything he needed to know about the mobile suits on the off chance that the kid could come up with a way to protect their Gundams from his magic so that the kid wouldn't fry their circuitry on accident.

When they finished for the evening, they went their separate ways: Wufei staying in the office to do a bit of research and monitor the security network of the estate, Trowa to head to France to pick up the equipment and supplies he'd ordered and paid for electronically (from a random Alliance soldier's account naturally) after which he'd stop by the circus for a day or two, Quatre out into the desert to think, Heero to the underground facility to finish repairing his Gundam, and Duo to the bedroom where Harry was sleeping to watch over the child for a while.

* * *

Two days later, Harry was sleeping lightly, hovering in the place between sleeping and waking that allowed him to be aware of his surroundings while resting, when he heard someone enter the room. The moment he heard the door opening, he shifted into full awareness but kept his eyes closed as nervous tension filled him. His ears marked the footsteps lightly ghosting across the rug covered hardwood floors of the room and he had to consciously stop himself from hunching up his shoulders in trepidation when he sensed whoever it was stopping right beside the bed.

A soft sigh cut through the room as the person dropped down into the chair beside the bed and leaned forward to run their fingers through Harry's hair. Jerking away from the sudden touch, Harry bolted upright as he ignored the pained protest of his half healed wounds and made to flee before freezing as he caught sight of Heero sitting there studying him.

"I apologize for startling you, I did not know you were awake or I would have announced my presence first."

"What do you want with me now?"

"At the moment…? Nothing," Heero replied with a shrug as he critically eyed Harry for a moment. "I just came to check on you to see how you were doing and originally intended to just sit beside you while you slept. How are you feeling? Are you in any pain? Would you like me to get you anything?"

"I'm fine," Harry automatically declared as he curled in on himself and watched Heero warily.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Say you're fine even when it's obvious you are not?"

"Habit," Harry replied with a slightly startled expression on his face that quickly vanished. "No one has really ever cared whether I was fine or not and it is easier to pretend there is nothing wrong since that means no one will be burdened with my unimportant needs. Damn it… do you have to be so damn nosy all the time?"

"I was just curious why you always say you're fine; even if you are in pain or half dead at the time."

"Well, I wasn't in that much pain in the first place; nothing I couldn't handle at least. Now, I have a headache but asking you to leave is pointless apparently."

Harry huffed in exasperation when Heero just snorted in amusement over his pointed comment. The two of them stared at each for a few minutes until Harry looked away first, his eyes darting about the room nervously as he shifted uncomfortably. His bladder was beginning to feel uncomfortably full but he had no idea where the bathroom was and he didn't like the idea of needing to ask.

"What do you need, Harry?"

"The bathroom," Harry muttered as he ducked his head to hide the embarrassed blush that was creeping up his cheeks.

"You could have just asked, brat. It's through the door just on the other side of your bed. You should probably take a bath while you're in there; might make you feel better if you have any lingering aches from your fever or if your other injuries are bothering you."

"I'll pass on the bath… I've never been fond of baths… though a hot shower would be nice," Harry countered as he slipped out from under the covers, slid down the side of the bed, and nearly ended up flat on his face when his legs buckled on him the moment his feet touched the floor.

"Are you alright, Harry? Do you need me to carry you?"

"I'm still fine and no I don't need or want you to carry me," Harry snapped back as he clung to the covers he'd latched onto in order to avoid letting his face become intimately acquainted with the rug beneath his feet.

He stood leaning against the mattress for several more minutes as his legs continued to protest the need to support his weight until the wave of weakness that had washed through him finally passed. When he no longer felt as if he'd fall flat on his face, he reluctantly released the death grip he'd had on the comforter and took a couple of tentative steps away from the bed. He was pleased to find that his left knee didn't hurt anywhere near as bad as he remembered (though it was still stiff and sore) and hoped that was an indication his innate healing ability was no longer being hindered by a near constant state of magical exhaustion (something he had noted during the brief moments he'd been awake over the past couple of days).

The thought of his magical core reminded him of his wand and he automatically reached back to take it out of his back pocket where he usually kept it in only to find the cotton pants he was wearing didn't have back pockets and his wand was missing. Panic shot through him over the mere possibility that his wand had been lost and he desperately searched through his clothes a second time before he darted back to the bed and began frantically searching through the covers. He was practically hyperventilating in frustration and fear when the other teen in spoke up and reminded Harry that he wasn't alone.

"What are you looking for, Harry?"

"My wand; what did you do with it?" Harry asked as he carefully backed out from under the covers and pinned Heero with a determined glare.

"I didn't wish for anything to happen to it while you were sick so I put it up in my room when we first arrived."

"Please give it back," Harry all but demanded as his eyes focused unwaveringly on Heero.

"What do you plan on doing with it? I thought you needed to use the restroom?"

"If I am going to take a shower, I'd at least like to have clean clothes to put on when I get out and I seriously doubt you were able to move, let alone access my supply trunk; which means I don't have any of my clothes here."

"Winner purchased a small handful of clothing for you when he learned that we were unable to retrieve the majority of your belongings; they are located in the armoire behind you."

"I will still need my wand to make adjustments to the clothes to make certain they fit properly," Harry insisted despite the fact that the well fitting pajamas he was wearing loudly proclaimed that someone had taken his exact measurements at some point while he'd been sick. Something his conscious mind was studiously ignoring least he send himself into a panic over the thought of someone having dressed and undressed him while he was asleep.

"I will go fetch your things then, they will be waiting for you when you get out of the shower."

Growling under his breath about annoying teens, Harry slipped back off the bed stalked away from the bed with his shoulders hunched. He tossed a glare back over his shoulder as he paused outside of the door before he entered the bathroom and closed the door with a sharp snap that wasn't quite slamming the door and promptly engaged the lock. Sighing, Harry relaxed marginally before glancing about the rather opulent bathroom as he stepped up to the shower to turn it on so that the water could heat up.

He nervously glanced about the bathroom a second time before he used the toilet and striped out of the borrowed pajamas he'd been wearing. He then carefully removed all of the bandages covering his back and side so he could check on the state of his back and side. A quick glance in the mirror revealed that the scraps on his side and back were still only partially healed and he frowned at his reflection since he knew it shouldn't have taken more than a week for those to heal on their own. Turning away from the mirror, Harry shivered a bit as he glanced about the bathroom a third time, feeling apprehensive and more than a little vulnerable without his wand while in unfamiliar territory.

Sighing again, Harry hesitantly dug through the cupboards until he found a towel and face cloth and checked the shower for soap and shampoo before stepping beneath the water and allowing the warmth to pour over him. He stood there for several minutes, just letting the water soak his hair and his skin before he began washing his hair; digging his fingers across his scalp to knock free any stubborn grains of sand he'd picked up since he'd last showered. After he rinsed the suds from his hair he washed it a second time to make certain he hadn't missed any dirt before he washed the rest of his body.

Once he was clean, he spent a couple of minutes cleaning the shower so as not to leave a mess before he turned off the water, shook out his hair, and climbed out so he could dry off. Harry then wrapped the towel around him, gathered up the dirty clothes, and unlocked the door before tentatively exiting the bathroom. He stumbled over his feet a bit when he saw Heero seated beside the bed still and half wondered if the teen had even left only for Heero to point to the end of the bed where his old rucksack was sitting before shifting the chair around so that his back was to Harry.

Keeping his eyes on Heero, Harry edged his way forward until he reached the bag. He smothered a happy cry when he saw his wand sitting beside the bag and promptly snagged the familiar handle and let out a sigh of relief when he felt his magic humming beneath his fingertips as it was drawn to the magic in the wand's core. Dropping the dirty clothes he'd been holding, Harry gave a sharp twist and a jab as he incanted, "_Mundus Complico,_" and watched as the clothes jumped up and rippled in an unseen wind before they neatly folded themselves and dropped onto the bed.

He then dug through the rucksack in order to see what Heero had managed to collect from his cave only to freeze when he pulled out the wooden case from his desk; his gaze turning diamond sharp as he glanced from the box to Heero's back. He scowled at the teen, knowing instinctively that the pilot had been snooping through his things as he set the box on the bed. Gripping his wand handle, Harry was half tempted to hex the teen and only Heero's earlier order to not use magic on him (unless he had permission or it was to save his or another's life – completely unaware of the silent permission Heero had already given him) stayed his hand.

Cursing up a blue streak beneath his breath as he gave the teen one last glare, Harry dug back into the bag and grabbed one of the three long sleeved shirts out of the bag (uncomfortable with the idea of wearing clothes someone else had purchased for him).

Irritated, Harry roughly pulled on the shirt and gave a particularly sharp jab of his wand to shrink the shirt down to a more manageable size before changing the blinding yellow color of shirt to a more tolerable dark gray that bordered on black. The process was repeated with the blue jeans and underwear he dug out of the bag (minus the color changing charms) before he cleaned the towel he used (Harry using the bed to hide himself from Heero as he dressed as he hadn't trusted the teen not to look). Once he was dressed, Harry opened the box and sighed in relief when he found nothing missing even as he noted that someone had riffled through the folder containing his medical reports. Shooting yet another glare at Heero, Harry spun the tip of his wand over the box and tapped it twice which caused it to glow yellow.

"The next person who tries to open my box is going to be in for a nasty shock," Harry stated blandly. "You had no business snooping through my things and you bloody well had no damn business reading through any of the stuff inside there. You're lucky you didn't mess with Sirius's memories, his motorbike, and my broom or order or no order I'd have hexed you six ways from Sunday."

"I won't apologize for snooping," Heero replied without any remorse as he finally turned the chair back around to face the bed and Harry. "I'd found the box that first day when you left me to my own devices and gave me leave to make myself at home. I was looking to find out more about you because I had no idea what kind of person you were and what you wanted with me. For that matter, I still believed there was an adult taking care of you at that point and I had hoped to find information on him or her."

"How many people have you showed it to since then?"

"Technically no one," Heero answered carefully and Harry narrowed his eyes. "Maxwell found the files while we were trapped inside of your cave despite my efforts to keep him out of your things and he might have made copies of your medical records, the letter, and several rather informative journal entries and shared that information with the other pilots."

Harry closed his eyes and pinched his nose with his left hand as he tapped his wand against his thigh in an effort not to give into the urge to blow something up. Humiliation and rage warred with each other as he thought about who knew how many perfect strangers reading about what amounted to his greatest shame. Fear gripped his heart suddenly as he recalled the very detailed records of everything that Snape had done to him during his four years at Hogwarts and he felt the blood drain from his face as he began hyperventilating before he stumbled backwards away from the bed.

"You have nothing to be afraid of, Harry," Heero murmured and Harry jumped as he unexpectedly found the teen kneeling right in front of him. "We will not show that information to anyone else and we will never use what we learned to hurt you in any way. We only want to help you."

"I don't need any help."

"Is that the truth or is that what you want to believe?" Heero asked softly. Harry closed his eyes, averted his face, and pressed his lips together; unable to lie and unwilling to admit the truth. Heero gave a dry laugh that held no humor before he continued, "I thought as much. I'm going to pick you up now and set you back on the bed because you and I need to have a long discussion about what is going to happen and I would like it very much if you didn't fight me this time. I don't want you pulling your scabs open now that the infection has been cleared from your wounds and they are finally starting to heal properly."

Heero followed through a moment later and Harry couldn't help the tremor that raced down his spine as Heero picked him up, set him on the bed, and tucked him beneath the covers. Harry's eyes then warily tracked the teen as he walked around the bed and returned to the chair he'd been sitting in earlier.

"I know Maxwell told you that your cave is not safe for you right now because that stretch of beach is crawling with Alliance and OZ troops. It would be far too dangerous to sneak in with all of the surveillance equipment they've probably got set up there by now. Until they give up monitoring the area you will be staying here with us; where you will be safe."

"You aren't going to give me any choice, are you?"

"No. Would you like to know why?" Heero inquired and Harry shrugged listlessly; the wizard figuring the teen would tell him whether he wanted to know or not. "It is because if anyone in the Alliance (especially those that are part of OZ) learns about your abilities they are going to force you to fight for them, use you to create an army of children in the hopes that your ability is genetic, or perform hundreds of experiments on you in the hopes of recreating your abilities in others. There are people that work for OZ that could make some of those you have dealt with in the past seem like saints in comparison."

"I'm not telling you this to frighten you; I'm telling you so that you know the risks and so you can understand why we wish to help you. The other Gundam pilots and I are trying to stop people like that in order to protect the Colonies out in space and the innocents here on Earth. I refuse to lie and I'm sure as hell not going to sugar coat things because that won't do any one any favors; least of all you."

"You are afraid that they will use me to stop you because my magic can stop your robots which means you will fail to do what you came to do," Harry whispered as he pinned Heero with knowing eyes.

"Yes."

"I understand. All I ask is that you make it quick and painless."

"Don't be an idiot; we're not killing you."

"Why not…? That would be the surest way to remove the threat I represent."

"I really wish you'd stop asking for death."

"There is no pain in death," Harry replied with a negligent shrug. "I'm tired… tired of fighting shadows, tired of living with my memories, and tired of being both a burden and a danger to those around me. In death, I will be free in a way that I can not be in life."

"You would dishonor you're godfather's last wish by giving up so easily?" Heero coldly demanded.

Harry flinched as if struck and felt heat pricking the back of his eyes as his bottom lip trembled in his effort to hold back the pain those words had shot straight into his heart. Blinking back the burning tears, Harry glanced away from Heero's blazing blue eyes and wrapped his arms around his stomach as shame flooded through him.

"He risked everything to set you free and you've continuously tried to throw away the precious gift he gave to you; your life. Don't you think you should at least make an effort to respect his last wishes? Or are you really that determined to piss all over the sacrifices he made to ensure that you lived?"

"A choice between what is right and what is easy," Harry croaked before he began chuckling darkly without an ounce of humor and more than a little bitterness as he glanced back up to meet Heero's gaze once more. "The only worthwhile piece of advice Dumbledore ever gave me. Fine; you win… but if you ever throw my godfather back in my face like that again I _will_ make you live to regret it."

"So long as you don't go wallowing in self pity again I won't have to."

The two of them held a short staring contest for several long minutes before Harry finally dropped his eyes to stare down at his hands as he twisted his fingers in the hem of his shirt as he asked, "What happens to me now?"

"The way I see it, you have two choices," Heero answered after a brief minute of silence in which Harry felt the teen's gaze steadily boring a hole in the top of his head. "You can either allow us to protect you until we've dealt with the threat or you can learn how to protect yourself."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked hesitantly as he snapped his eyes up to Heero's face once more feeling more than a little confused about exactly what it was he was being offered and why he was even being offered a choice in the first place. He was also more than a little leery about what choosing would mean for him.

"The other pilots and I sat down to discuss your situation and we came to the conclusion that the best thing we can do is to protect you ourselves or teach you how to protect yourself."

"What could you possibly teach me?"

"We can teach you quite a bit actually; everything you'd need in order to survive in this world including several forms of self defense, how to handle various weapons, how to use the technology you'd run across in this world, recent history so you won't stand out and can better keep up with current events, and anything else you think you might need or want to know."

"And what would you want from me in return? Nothing is free."

"We would like you to help us find a way to protect the Gundams from your magic and for you to place some of the same protections you had around your cave around the estate where we are currently living in order to provide us an extra measure of protection in the event that we are discovered by our enemies."

"If I agree… what will happen to me when you have nothing left to teach me? Or if the suits can't be warded?"

"If, after trying your best, the suits can't be protected, then they can't be protected. And once you can adequately protect yourself, you will be free to go your own way… and I will release you from your oath."

"And if I refuse…?"

"Then you will be our guest until the threat of war has ended and we can be certain that you and your abilities can't be used against us. Also, in the event that you don't wish to be trained, I will use your oath to insure that there was no way you could harm us in the event you do fall into OZ's hands despite our best efforts."

"I see. Do I have to give you an answer right this minute?"

"No, you can take as long as you need to decide," Heero replied. "Do you have any other questions? No? If you think of any you may ask any one of us. There are a few things I need to take care of right now, would you like me to have some one bring you something to eat?"

"No thank you, I'm not hungry right now. Although… um… could I maybe get some tea? Or at least some water?"

"I will see what can be found for you."

Harry nodded and watched Heero leave the room before he slumped back on the bed and threw his arm over his face, the tears of frustration and hopelessness he'd been holding back since Heero had first given him what amounted to an ultimatum flowing freely now that he was alone. After a few minutes he wiped his face off and crawled out of the covers so he could grab the box of things Sirius had given him and lifted out his three inch Firebolt.

He set the box off to one side then and lay down on his belly with his head propped up on one hand as he set the broom on the top of the bed and ordered it up so that it hovered about five inches off the comforter. A sad smile played at the corner of his mouth as the broom lazily spun in circles each time he gave it a gentle nudge with a finger.

After a few minutes, the pint-sized wizard hoarsely whispered, "I wish you would have come with me, Sirius. I miss you so much."

* * *

**Spells translations:**

Mundus Complico – Mundus = to Clean, Complico = to fold together; non-canon spell used to wash and fold clothes.

* * *

**AN:** _Whew, what a chapter. That first bit with all five pilots kept trying to descend into a brawl the first few times I wrote it and at one point even had bullets flying. I needed them on more friendly terms, despite their differences of opinions, and so nixed the fight scene and completely erased the gunfire. There was still plenty going on and Harry even got a metaphorical kick in the hind end from Heero to get him to stop searching for a quick death. I did manage to get a justice rant in there for Wufei though and I was quite proud of the way it turned out since I think I avoided making him look like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. I also managed to let the characters explain my reasoning for not making Heero immediately release Harry from his oath since that oath will be important in later chapters.  
_

_I had one anonymous reviewer complain that Harry seemed to have opened up to Quatre too easily in the last chapter, especially considering how confrontational he'd been with everyone else but I did explain that at the end of the chapter in Harry's own mind. He had intended to give Quatre the same cold shoulder he'd been given everyone else and he had not meant to pour his heart out to Quatre but there is something about Quatre that draws others to him and makes him easy to trust; and yes, it is related directly to his empathy. That connection he felt with the blonde pilot will be touched on in more depth in later chapters as Harry slowly comes to understand it himself.  
_

_Finally, Wufei was originally supposed to be introduced in this chapter but I had to bump that bit to the beginning of the next chapter when this chapter reached the 10,000 word mark since it was getting a bit long. The next chapter will be posted sometime this week, I hope, but I couldn't tell you when because I'll be busy trying to get a few things done. I also plan to get the last of the chapter edits and the next chapter for Haunted up this week but make no promises. ~ Jenn_


	12. Turning Point

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 11: Turning Point

A sharp knock at the door half an hour later had Harry snagging his broom out of the air and palming his wand as he rolled over and sat up. A heartbeat later the door opened and an unfamiliar teen stepped into the room carrying a tray with two cups, a steaming teapot, and a plate of what looked like rice balls partially wrapped in shiny paper. Harry grabbed his wooden box of things as he slipped backwards along the bed and tucked it beneath his pillow before he discreetly slipped his shrunken broom and wand into his left sleeve as he warily eyed the new teen.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter," the teen greeted politely as he set the tray down on the bedside table before bowing shallowly. "My name is Wufei Chang."

"Hello," Harry automatically replied even as he felt some surprise over hearing a familiar surname; any nervousness or irritation he might have felt being faced with yet another stranger vanishing beneath the onslaught of curiosity and slight hopefulness he felt over a potential link to his former world. "Chang…? Do… do you… um… is there maybe a girl about fifteen, or I supposed she'd be about eighteen years old now, in your family named Cho?"

"My apologies, I know no one by that name," Wufei replied as he poured out two cups of tea before sitting down in the chair that had been left beside his bed. "Is this Cho someone important, someone close to you?"

"No… not really, just a girl I knew from… well, from before," Harry replied as he blushed a bit before his eyes turned haunted and his face went slightly gray-green. "There was a Yule Ball being held at our school as part of the stupid Tournament I was forced to participate in and I asked her to be my date because I had a crush on her at the time but she was already going with her boyfriend. She was probably happy when she heard I was sent away. I'm pretty certain she hates me now anyway."

"Why would you think she hates you just because you asked her to go to a dance with you?" Wufei asked curiously as he pressed a cup of tea into Harry's listless hands.

"S'not 'cause I asked her to the ball," Harry muttered as he glared into the pale tea in his cup as he rolled it back and forth in her hands. "She most likely hates my guts because it's my fault her boyfriend is dead."

"What makes you think his death is your fault?"

Harry just shook his head and took a sip of tea, his thoughts in turmoil as he tried not to think about deadly green lights, creepy graveyards, and dark rituals. Unconsciously, he pressed his left hand over the scar on his right arm where Wormtail had cut him in order to steal his blood for the Dark Lord's rebirth; his hands shaking as he tried to bury the terrible memories once more. He probably would have descended into a full blown panic attack if not for the teen's voice drawing him out of his memories.

"If you don't wish to speak of it, you don't have to; we can speak of other things instead."

Latching onto the proffered distraction, Harry blurted out the first question that popped into his mind, "Are you also a pilot of one of the robots… what was it Heero called them…? Oh, yeah, one of the Gundam suit thingies?"

"Yes, I am the pilot of the Gundam Shenlong," Wufei replied as he offered Harry the plate of rice things. Harry frowned at the plate in confusion and suspicion which was quickly noticed by the teen, who then promptly explained what they were. "They are called onigiri and they are made from white rice, filled with pickled Japanese salt plums, and wrapped with a section of dried seaweed. Yuy mentioned that you had not eaten yet and I thought you might like something other than soup for once."

"Oh, thank you," Harry murmured as he politely took one of the onigiri to try so as not to be rude.

He watched as the teen took a bite of the rice balls he'd selected before setting the plate aside and after a brief hesitation, tried a small bite as well. It was saltier than he expected and the texture of rice, pickled fruit, and seaweed was strange but overall it wasn't too bad. He'd eaten plenty of weird and gross things in his years at Hogwarts, after all, and trying new foods sure beat drinking strange potions any day.

After swallowing what he had in his mouth, Harry asked, "Are all pilots teenagers?"

"No, there are plenty of adults that operate mobile suits. It is just a coincidence that the five of us who operate the Gundam Suits are all roughly the same age."

"Really? I was beginning to think there were only kids living in this world."

"Why is that?"

"I've been here for practically two years now and I still haven't seen a single adult."

"It would be rather hard to meet or see other people when hiding yourself away in a cave on an isolated beach."

"I suppose but it's not as if I had any way of getting off the island by myself and no one else ever turned up there until Heero washed up on the beach," Harry murmured unrepentantly before falling silent as he finished his onigiri and drank his tea.

He allowed Wu Fie to refill his cup two more times as they simply sat in silence, ate the onigiri, and drank tea. And while Harry felt slightly uncomfortable in the presence of yet another complete stranger (especially knowing that said teen might have been one of those that had read through his medical records and the other condemning documents), he felt none of the agitation he would have felt if it had been Heero, Duo, or Trowa in the room with him.

The silence was broken several minutes later when Wufei inquired, "It has been mentioned that you have a sword, do you know how to use it?"

"The sharp pointy-end is the one you want to avoid," Harry answered flippantly making Wufei choke on his tea and nearly drop his cup.

"I'll take that as a no," Wufei dryly muttered a moment later as he brushed at the tea he'd spilled down his shirt.

Harry smothered a laugh before he drew his wand out of his sleeve and used it to siphon off the spilt tea, feeling slightly guilty for purposefully shocking the teen. After a moment, he sheepishly explained, "I only ever used it once and it was blind luck that I didn't end up stabbing myself instead of the snake that was attacking me. I think the real reason Sirius stole it from the school and sent it with me was because he didn't want to leave it with the Headmaster."

"The sword is actually a priceless artifact that once belonged to one of the four founders of Hogwarts; reportedly forged by goblins, it has the ability to take on the properties of any substance it comes into contact with. I don't really need to know how to use it since even the smallest scratch will kill a person because the blade was contaminated with the deadly venom of the basilisk I killed; I tested it on a filthy rat that tried moving into my cave a year and a half ago and it died within seconds after I'd barely nicked its tail."

Unseen by Harry and Wufei, Heero (who'd been watching and listening to the conversation from Quatre's office via the surveillance cameras) blanched over that revelation as he recalled coming close to being skewered with the sword on a couple of occasions during the first thirty hours he'd been with the kid.

"Are you not worried about cutting yourself on such a blade?"

"No, not really; I'm not in the habit of playing around with it."

"I should hope not," Wufei replied with a shudder.

"Why did you want to know if I knew how to use it? Does it have anything to do with what Heero said about some of you teaching me how to protect myself?" Harry asked shrewdly.

"I was curious to know if you'd had any prior training, and if so, what style of training you had received. And yes, it has everything to do with our offer to teach you how to defend yourself in any situation. Should you wish it; I would be willing to train you how to fight with a sword. Might I ask what kind of sword it is you have?"

Harry tilted his head to one side as he considered the rather reserved Asian for several minutes before he nodded slowly and replied, "It was originally forged as a two-handed English broadsword but, according to what I was told, there are enchantments on it that would theoretically allow me to change it into almost any type of sword; providing I know enough information about the sword (such as what it looks like, how it was made, what it was made from, and how much it weighs). I do not yet have the skill necessary to do so however nor do I know anything about any of the other types of swords; I only know what I do about Gryffindor's sword because of what Her… my friend and my godfather told me when I first told them I'd found it."

"You can use your magic to make things change form?" Wufei asked in surprise.

"Yes," Harry replied without hesitation as he once again pulled his wand out of his sleeve and picked up his empty tea cup.

He studied the cup for a moment before tapping the rim of the cup three times with his wand as he mumbled an incantation under his breath. The cup shivered in his hands and shrank in on itself until there was a small red and green humming bird perched on his finger. The bird chirped and titled its head back and forth before it lifted off Harry's finger and hovered in the air between the two boys. Wufei reached out and gently caught the bird so he could study it for a moment only to suck in sharp breath when he felt the warm body of the bird settle down on his palm.

"You can create life?"

"No… it is nothing more than a very realistic imitation," Harry stated with a shrug of his left shoulder. "It will return to its original shape in a few minutes when the magic fueling the transfiguration wears off. Animate to inanimate transfigurations will, of course, last far longer because it takes less energy to hold a non-moving shape than it does to give a creature a semblance of life. There are enchantments that can be cast to make the spell last longer but I haven't learned how to do that yet and I don't know if any of the books that Sirius sent with me would have that information or not though there is a high probability that he did."

Wufei jumped a minute later when the bird in his hand suddenly reverted into a cup that he held with slightly shaking hands as he inspected it closely. Harry shifted uncomfortably for a moment before he tucked his wand away once more and curled up beneath the cover, feeling tired suddenly.

"What else can you do with your magic, Mr. Potter?"

"Can you please not call me that? It… it makes me… I'd much rather you call me Harry. And I can do almost anything with my magic so long as I believe it is possible, it does not go against Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration or the laws of nature, and I have enough magic available. In other words; I can't create life, I can't raise the dead, and I can't conjure food. I can, however, simulate life, I could animate a corpse (not that I'd want to mind you), and I can use magic to cook or change the appearance of food or move it between two places; providing I'm not suffering from magical exhaustion. I'm best with defensive and offensive spells though… always having… to fight… for my life."

Harry drifted off to sleep at that point, his body still weak after being sick for so long coupled with his lingering injuries, the emotional drain from his earlier discussion with Heero, using more magic than he should have given his current less-than-perfect health, and the weight of his first true solid meal filly his belly. He never saw the contemplative expression on Wufei's face as the teen considered what he'd just learned about Harry's magic (the self proclaimed teenaged scholar very much interested in learning more about Harry's abilities). He ended up sleeping through the last few hours of the afternoon and all through the night, not once stirring as the four pilots still on the estate took turns watching over him.

When he woke up the next morning it was to the enticing scent of warm sugar and coffee. Harry stretched slowly to ease his sleep cramped muscles and test the current status of his injuries; pleased to note that he felt much stronger than he had the last few times he'd woken up. He then covered up a yawn as he sat up and rubbed his eyes to clear the sleep from them. A glance to the right revealed Quatre once again sitting beside the bed at a table with place settings for two that had been brought it at some point after he'd fallen asleep. The scent of coffee Harry had noticed earlier was coming from the mug Quatre was sipping out of as he scanned through various reports on the laptop sitting on the table in front of him.

"Good morning," Harry murmured softly.

"Good morning, Harry," Quatre greeted in return as he glanced up from the laptop. "I took the liberty of setting out a fresh change of clothes for you, why don't you go change and freshen up a bit; then you can join me for breakfast."

Harry found himself complying before he even knew he was doing it and he paused halfway to the bathroom with the change of clothes in hand to frown back at Quatre before shaking his head and moving towards the bathroom once more. He was pretty certain the teen hadn't used any type of magic on him to secure his cooperation because with his core fully unbound Harry would theoretically have no problem resisting all forms of mind control. Plus the fake Moody had built up Harry's resistance; hence the reason Dumbledore had needed to resort to using potions in combination with his spells and increased the use of memory charms during the last half of his fourth year.

After giving the matter some thought, Harry figured that Quatre's comforting presence put him at ease enough to not question or resent the suggested orders whereas he'd have balked if one of the others had suggested the same thing. Once he had emptied his bladder, washed his hands, changed his clothes (taking time to examine his back and side to gauge how much longer it would be until the deeper scrapes were fully healed), and transferred his broom and wand into his back pocket, Harry stepped out of the bathroom.

He hesitated briefly in a moment of indecision before he tucked his clothes away into his rucksack sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed instead of putting them in the armoire (uncertain of how long it would be until his welcome was worn out despite what Heero had told him about them keeping him there). When he was finished putting his things away, he automatically began making the bed by hand; a habit left over from the years living in with the Dursleys where he'd been required to make all of the beds nearly every morning. He jumped a bit and froze in shock when Quatre stood up and began helping him.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"Nn…nothing, I'm just not used to people helping me with the chores," Harry replied through the slight shock as he awkwardly finished making the bed with Quatre's help.

"Ah, I apologize then, I didn't mean to catch you off guard or make you feel uncomfortable," Quatre offered as they finished. "I only intended to give you a hand to make the chore go faster so that you could join me for breakfast all that much sooner."

"Thank you," Harry murmured as he hesitantly walked around the bed to join Quatre at the table.

He was rather thankful to find the meal provided rather simple; a bowl of oatmeal, plenty of fresh fruit, and fresh orange juice to drink. The next several minutes passed in near silence but for the gentle clinking of silverware against the dishes as they served themselves and began eating and the odd normality and familiarity of the simple act of eating helped put Harry at ease. The food helped too as Harry once again hadn't realized just how hungry he had been until after the first few bites and while he didn't eat much (not that he'd ever eaten much) he did eat his fill.

"Are you finished? Or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'm done," Harry replied as he glanced expectantly across the table at Quatre, something telling him the other teen had something planned.

"Good. I thought you might like to have a tour of the estate and stretch your legs a bit. That is, if you are feeling up to it? I know your knee was pretty badly damaged…"

"I'm fine," Harry quickly interrupted with a slight trace of exasperation and discomfort over the concern Quatre was expressing for him. "But um… what about our dirty dishes?"

"You need not worry about them," Quatre assured him as he rose from the table and headed towards the door.

Harry followed willingly enough in the blonde's wake, interested in seeing something other than the same four walls and furniture that he'd been seeing since he'd first woken up several days earlier. He listened attentively as Quatre showed him about the estate, paying close attention to where the other pilots he'd met were staying in the event he either needed to find them or wished to avoid them. When they reached the ground floor, Harry came face to face with his first adults in this world and he stopped in his tracks, backed up several steps, and warily studied the group of rather intimidating looking men.

Seeing a number of the burly men glancing curiously in his direction, Harry backed up even further as fear gripped his heart and he nervously palmed his wand and held it half hidden behind his leg. Unconsciously, he fell into a defensive stance in preparation for fight or flight as a rush of adrenalin flooded through him and set his heart to racing. In order to avoid meeting their gazes directly as he continued watching them with the wariness of a cornered wolf, Harry dropped his chin down so he could study the men from beneath his fringe.

He paid special attention to the way that Quatre interacted with the adults; noting that the teen was on extremely good terms with them. A closer glance showed them to be slightly less frightening than they first appeared and far friendlier than he would have expected but that didn't really put Harry at ease as he recalled another giant of a man that had appeared nothing more than a friendly buffoon. Thinking about Hagrid sent a spike of pain through Harry's heart as he recalled how the huge man had been one of those that had betrayed him (though he didn't know if it had been an intentional betrayal or if Hagrid was just that gullible; the man had behaved rather childlike at times).

In fact, every single adult in Harry's life had betrayed him at some point. Even Sirius had betrayed him, in a way, because his godfather had sent him away. A number of them had tried to kill him on at least one occasion; like Remus though, to be fair, the man had been under the influence of his curse at the time. Harry automatically tightened his hold on his wand as several of the adults continued to cast curious glances his way and he shifted up onto the balls of his feet as he prepared to flee in an instant; his eyes now searching for the nearest exit. He was caught off guard further when the gathering of men suddenly dispersed leaving only Quatre and one bearded individual in the room with Harry.

"Harry, I'd like you to meet a close friend of mine; Rashid Kurama," Quatre introduced as the two of them cautiously approached Harry (both man and teen easily noting that the pint-sized wizard was tense and on edge). "Rashid, this young gentleman is Harry Potter; he'll be staying with us for the time being."

"It is a pleasure to meet you at last, young Master Potter," Rashid stated warmly as he smiled at Harry. "I am glad to see that you have recovered; we were all quite concerned for you when we learned the full extent of your injuries and heard you'd come down with a nasty case of Space Flu."

"It's nice to meet you too, sir," Harry replied as politely as possible, the manners drilled into him by his aunt hard to abandon even though he felt unbalanced and had no reason to trust the man in front of him.

"Such impeccable manners," Rashid murmured. "No need to call me sir though, you may call me Rashid."

"Yes, sir."

Quatre smothered a laugh at the playful pout Rashid put on in the hopes of putting Harry at ease. It didn't work and Harry continued to hold himself defensively while at the same time trying to appear submissive; yet another method of self preservation he'd developed during his years living with the less-than-pleasant Dursleys. While Quatre and Rashid spent a few more minutes talking, Harry unobtrusively cast a low level detection spell in order to find out how many people were lurking nearby. When he picked up the presence of someone walking up from behind him, Harry tensed up and spun around as he brought his wand up ready to defend himself.

"Nice reflexes, kiddo," Duo remarked with an easy grin as he adjusted the ball cap he was wearing so that Harry could easily see his eyes.

Rolling his eyes, Harry dropped his wand hand back to his side and shifted so that he could see everyone in the room. After a minute, Duo sighed loudly and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed while Rashid chuckled and took his leave. Harry frowned after the man for a full minute before he glanced between the two teens, uncertain of what exactly had just happened.

"Shall we finish the tour, Harry? Or would you like to go outside for a bit of fresh air?" Quatre asked after a few minutes of tense silence.

"Outside, please," Harry tentatively replied after a moment's consideration; the idea of staying inside of a house filled with an untold number of adults filling him with unease.

Quatre nodded and swung his right arm out to indicate the direction they would need to go and Harry tucked away his wand as he skittishly fell back into step beside and slightly behind the taller boy. He frowned slightly and glanced back over his shoulder when he sensed Duo following but otherwise ignored the other teen. Now that the long haired pilot wasn't threatening anyone, not asking annoying personal questions, and not close enough to touch him he didn't seem quite as intimidating though that didn't mean that Harry trusted him or anything.

There was also a small part of Harry that kept comparing Duo to the Weasley twins (even though Harry had no wish to be reminded of them) and at times to Sirius on the few occasions when the Marauder had been feeling playful. Like Sirius in his animagus form, Duo put Harry in mind of an overgrown puppy but Harry got the impression that this puppy was more along the lines of Fluffy rather than Padfoot. Thinking of the huge cerberus, Harry shivered and shoved away the memories of his past as he looked up to take in his surroundings as Quatre led them out into the courtyard.

Looking beyond the thriving garden, Harry saw nothing but desert as far as the eye could see. He then spun around to take in the huge mansion and the rest of the courtyard before turning his eyes up to the sky, reveling in the feel of the sun beating down on him. He felt slightly depressed that he couldn't smell the salt of the ocean, after having lived on the beach for so long, but at the same time it didn't really bother him. He was grateful that the area looked nothing like the lush grounds and foreboding forests that surrounded Hogwarts because he didn't think he could have handled the similarities in addition to the memories that had been stirred up over the course of the past couple of days.

He spent a few more minutes turning around in circles in order to take in his surroundings before he let his eyes fall on the two who that were watching him with open amusement and curiosity. Biting his lip, Harry glanced down at the weathered stone beneath his feet and reached into his pocket to finger his shrunken broom before looking out at the desert once more as he felt an overwhelming urge to feel the wind on his face. The barren sand dunes that surrounded the place appeared to be a far more suitable place to fly than his beach (since he'd been afraid of falling into the ocean if he got too far from shore, of being seen by passing ships, or crashing into the rocks due to the rather high winds that had often plagued the island) and right now Harry needed the release flying would bring in order to clear his head.

"Can I… do you think it would be alright… that is, if it wouldn't be too much trouble… could I maybe fly for a bit?" Harry asked tentatively after another minute of studying the desert.

"I suppose we could see if there was a plane available for one of us to take you up," Quatre replied as he exchanged a glance with Duo.

"I don't need a plane. I just… it looks like this place is fairly remote and there wouldn't be any chance that someone could see me other than those who live here and I haven't flown for so long. I just thought maybe I could spend a little time in the air so I can think. I promise I won't try and run off, if that's what you're worried about. I wouldn't have any idea of where to go anyway."

"If you don't go too far out into the desert I suppose it would be alright," Quatre allowed after he studied Harry for a moment. "Since it is rather easy to get lost out over the sand if you aren't familiar with the local landmarks."

"I won't get lost… I can always find my way back if I do but I don't need to go very far anyway," Harry replied with a grin as he fished his Firebolt out of his back pocket.

Ignoring the two teens that were watching his every move with avid curiosity, Harry set his broom on the ground, pulled out his wand, and canceled the shrinking spell on the broom. Harry grinned as he watched the broom swell back to its original size and he felt a trill of anticipation surge through him as he put away his wand and stepped up beside the broom. Flashing a mischievous grin at the teens, Harry held his hand out over the broom and commanded it up; the feel of the handle slapping his hand reminding him of all the times he'd flown through the years.

He then spent several minutes checking the broom for any damage it might have sustained from being shrunken and hummed happily when he found every twig was in its proper. Finished with his inspection, he eagerly mounted the broom and just sat there with his eyes closed for a minute as his feet barely brushing across the top of the ground. When he opened his eyes he was a bit surprised to note that both Quatre and Duo had moved closer without him knowing it and they were currently inspecting the broom with avid curiosity. He waited for them to finish before advising them to back up a bit as he dropped the broom just low enough for his feet to fully touch the ground.

The moment they stepped back far enough that he wouldn't accidentally clip them with the bristles as he took off, Harry pushed off the ground hard and shot up into the sky like a bullet. Harry climbed as high as he could while pushing the broom as fast as it could go. Once he felt the chill in the air and the slight breathlessness that came from not getting enough oxygen, Harry pulled on the broom until he was hanging upside down and allowed gravity to pull him back towards the earth. After several minutes of free-fall, Harry tipped the handle downwards and engaged the broom once again as he headed back towards the ground until he drew even with the roof of the mansion.

Harry pulled up and leveled the broom at that point before he shot out over the open desert. He barrel rolled a few times once he was clear of the estate before dropping low enough to drop a hand down and run his fingers through the sand for a few dozen feet as he swung around wide. When he thought he was out far enough away from the walls of the estate, he pulled back up a few feet and leaned forward as he shot ahead to circle the estate at full speed; appearing as nothing more than a speeding blur as he sped along about ten feet above the ground.

After making two full circuits, Harry climbed into the sky once more before flipping downwards to dive at the ground as he pressed his body flat against the broom in order to go even faster. Eyes staring at the ground below him and the wind whistling in his ears, Harry never saw the frantic waving or heard the cries of distress from the teens watching him as he waited until the very last minute to pull up so that he was skimming along just mere inches above the ground. Loving the thrill, Harry corkscrewed upwards in order to do it again only this time when he leveled out above the ground once more, Harry brought his feet up and stood up on the broom so that he was surfing over the sand as he had once done during a Quidditch game to catch the snitch.

When he grew bored with that, he pressed down with his back foot to edge the nose up into the air before he dropped back down onto the broom and circled back towards the courtyard. He practiced a few more of the tricks he'd picked up over the years, including the one where he actually let go of the broom with everything but one hand and simply hung from the broom before he swung back up (something he'd practiced frequently after the time Quirrell had tried to knock him off his broom in first year). He also stopped the broom a couple of times and allowed himself to fall backwards through the air with his arms spread wide before he'd spin around and take control of the broom once more.

At one point he ended up playing tag with a lone eagle only to grow depressed as he recalled all of the times he'd flown with Hedwig at his side. No longer feeling quite so at peace on the broom, Harry cut his speed and slowly made his way back to the courtyard where he paused and stared out at the desert for a long time before he dropped back to the ground. Sighing, Harry turned to walk back to where he'd left Quatre and Duo only to find that they'd been joined by Wufei and Heero and that all four teens looked more than a little pale though Duo was wearing a knowing smirk.

"I must say that wasn't quite what I pictured when ya said ya loved ta fly, kiddo," Duo announced with a shake of his head as his smirk morphed into a huge grin. "Thought for sure ya were goin' ta buy da farm a time or two on those wild dives of yours or when ya fell off. Ya wouldn't be willin' ta take someone else for a ride sometime would ya? It looked like fun."

"Will your… broom work for anyone? Or do you have to have magic to fly it?" Wufei inquired as Harry sent a glare at the boisterous teen over being called kiddo once again.

"I don't know but I don't have another broom with me here that would be safe enough to let someone else try. My Firebolt is a top-of-the-line racing model (not a learner's broom) that is impossible to control if you don't know what you're doing. And I've never flown with a passenger on my broom before."

"Is that why you fell off a few times?" Heero asked.

"No, I didn't fall off; I dropped off on purpose. Flying has been the only thing I've ever been really good at without trying and when I'm in the air the broom is nothing more than an extension of me and my magic."

"Why would you drop off of the broom on purpose? Isn't that dangerous?" Quatre asked a little worriedly.

"The first time I played in a Quidditch game, one of my professors hexed my broom to make it throw me off and it was only sheer luck that prevented me from falling. Since then I often practiced dropping from my broom and getting back on so if it happened again it wouldn't be as hard. Didn't do me any good in third year when I passed out and fell off but it has helped me a number of other times."

"Death defying stunts aside, it looked like you had a lot of fun while you were up there."

"Yeah, I did," Harry agreed with a sad smile as his eyes were drawn upwards once more as they tracked the flight of the eagle he'd flown alongside for a few minutes. He then glanced back at the teens watching him before dropping his eyes to the ground as he thought again about the choices Heero had offered him. Pulling out his wand, Harry tapped the broom and mumbled the incantation to shrink back down to a more manageable size and tucked it back into his pocket as he considered his options.

He could allow himself to be a virtual prisoner in this place; always depending on others to watch over him but never having the freedom to leave so long as the threat of war loomed overhead. He could try running away but even he knew that his broom couldn't out fly an airplane and he really had no idea of where he would go or even if he could make it back to his cave before he was caught either by one of the five pilots or the ones the teens said would wish him harm. Or he could accept Heero's offer of training in exchange for using his magic to protect them from his magic in turn.

"Why don't we go back inside, it's fairly close to mid-morning and the heat will soon grow unbearable," Quatre suggested after a few minutes.

Harry silently complied as he continued thinking about his future. He wasn't stupid, he knew that ultimately the teens were looking to either make use of his ability or make certain his abilities didn't fall into the hands of their enemies. He hadn't even needed Heero practically spelling that out for him when he first presented Harry with his options to know that. Harry just wasn't certain that he wanted to get caught up in a potential war when he'd just barely escaped from the war that Voldemort's rebirth would have triggered in the magical world. A war that Harry would have undoubtedly ended up fighting in at some point due to Dumbledore's manipulations, Voldemort's obsession, and his own since of right and wrong.

_They are just about the same age I am and they are willing to fight for what they believe in,_ Harry thought as he paused and glanced back over his shoulder at the deceptively empty desert. _They have far more skills than I do even though I've been fighting in my own war of sorts since I first stepped foot in the magical world at age eleven. I am nothing but a child in this world regardless of my age simply because I lack the skills I need to blend into this society and survive on my own. Much how it was when I entered the magical world and found myself thrust into the spotlight in a society that had certain expectations of me and constantly found myself floundering. _

_Only here I stumbled across five strangers that are willing to teach me how to survive in their world while back in my world my supposed friends and teachers only told me what they felt I should know and kept me ignorant of much of what was going on. Anything I learned that they hadn't wanted me to know was stolen from me (things I only remember now thanks to Sirius unlocking my memories). Like Dumbledore and the others, they want something from me but they aren't trying to hide the fact that they want to use me. Heero also said that they are willing to teach me how to survive in this world in return for helping them._

Harry pulled his eyes away from the endless stretch of sand and studied the four teen who were watching him with curiosity, concern, and contemplation. He looked first to Heero; the teen he'd pulled off the beach because he thought he needed help and searched the teens blue eyes for any sign of duplicity or the calculating coldness he'd seen the night he swore an oath to the teen. Next, Harry studied Duo; the teen who'd stepped in to protect him because he'd thought Harry was in trouble and who held no grudge against Harry even though Harry had damaged his Gundam (and as of yet had not restored it to full size).

Then there was Quatre; whose mere presence was both reassuring and comfortable despite Harry not really knowing anything about him. It was easy to trust the blue eyed blonde as there was an air of innocence surrounding him that sort of reminded him of the unicorns he'd encountered in class during his fourth year. Wufei, on the other hand, was more of a mystery, though Harry didn't sense any hostility from the teen and Harry couldn't help but think of Buckbeak when he saw the young Asian; proud and dangerous but not a real threat so long as you didn't insult him.

The missing Trowa didn't escape scrutiny either, as Harry turned his thoughts inwards to recall what little he knew of the absent teen; recalling how the green eyed teen had been both gentle and firm during the two times Harry remembered interacting with him (despite Harry's rather violent reaction to the teen).

"Is there something wrong?" Heero asked after a few minutes, pulling Harry out of his thoughts.

"If you expect me to help you devise a way to shield the giant robots from my magic you are going to have to take me back to my cave so I can get my stuff; I don't know enough to help you without the books that my godfather sent with me."

"Kiddo, I already told ya that da place is crawlin' with Alliance and OZ troops," Duo pointed out.

"If you don't stop calling me kiddo, I am going to hex you," Harry growled as he crossed his arms and glowered at the teen. "And how hard would it be to create a diversion so that I could sneak into the cave, get my things, and sneak back out?"

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Wufei asked curiously.

"Any of you know how to drive a motorcycle?" Harry asked with a slight smirk.

"A motorcycle, your brilliant plan involves a motorcycle?" Duo asked incredulously before he shook his head and barked, "Kiddo, that has got ta be… ahhhh…"

Quatre and Wufei both jumped back in shock as Duo suddenly found himself hanging upside down by his feet while Heero merely arched an eyebrow at Harry who had his wand out and was glaring at the slightly frantic teen dangling several feet above the ground.

"What?" Harry snapped petulantly at Heero the moment he noted the look on the taller teen's face. "He asked for it… I warned him I'd hex him the next time he called me that."

"Alright, I'm sorry… I won't say it again!" Duo promised as his face turned red. "Please let me down now."

Harry just stared at the other teen for a long moment before he sighed and cast the counter spell which had Duo tumbling to the ground just as unexpectedly as he'd found himself being lifted off his feet. Heero actually chuckled at that point and Harry looked up at him in surprise because he couldn't recall actually hearing the rather taciturn teen laugh in honest amusement before.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you the motorcycle is like nothing you've ever seen before?" Harry stated as he promptly focused his attention on Quatre (something that was quickly becoming a habit as the more time harry spent around the empath the more comfortable he felt around him).

"Why don't we step inside and find a place to sit down and we can at least discuss your idea and see if it has merit," Quatre suggested.

They ended up in the dining room and discussed Harry's plan over an early lunch with Harry reluctantly explaining why he thought he could sneak in under the noses of the troops monitoring that stretch of beach on a motorcycle. The revelation that the bike in question could be silenced, could turn invisible, and could fly (in addition to several other interesting tricks) actually had all four teen interested. The fact that Harry had his godfather's research notes on the enhancements he'd added to the bike and how he'd managed to get the non-magical machine to work despite the magic layered over the bike pretty much meant that the teens were willing to find a way to help Harry get his things if only because of the possibilities those notes represented.

Deciding who would drive the bike ended up being a bit of a debate as Heero felt it should be his job, Duo thought he was the better pilot, and Harry would have preferred to ride with Quatre. Wufei didn't care either way though he did display a considerable amount of interest in the bike. In the end, it was decided that Heero would be the one to drive the bike because he was the only one keyed into the wards surrounding Harry's cave.

Quatre and Wufei would be taking their Gundams to create a diversion to draw away the bulk of the troops and Duo would be flying their transport plane. Trowa wasn't expected back for another two or three days so after letting the other pilot know what they were up to; they began making preparations to leave just before sunset (including taking Harry into the underground hanger so that he could restore Duo's Gundam to full size so that the Maganacs could start repairing the fried circuitry).

Heero had spent about an hour familiarizing himself with the bike (after the bike had been restored to full size and the side car had been removed) and they had found that Heero actually had just enough magic to drive the bike normally by himself but couldn't use any of the enhancements unless Harry was with him. Harry had to be the one to actually activate the various magical extras as well since the bike drew on the driver's magic to initiate the different spells that had been integrated into the bike; including the ability to fly; a fail-safe that had been added to prevent a muggle from accidentally activating the enhancements.

In the interest of seeing if any of the other pilots had even a trace of magic in them, they too took a turn on the bike; Wufei and Duo having about as much magic as Heero while Quatre drew the largest reaction from the bike though he still didn't have enough to fully activate any of the features. Harry actually wasn't surprised over the discovery that the four pilots were high level squibs after learning about Quatre's empathy (though he had no idea if the other three had similar hidden talents). Knowing that actually set his mind at ease because it meant he really wasn't alone and that he couldn't get in trouble for breaking the Statute of Secrecy if it existed in this world.

Just before sunset, Harry climbed into the plane apprehensively after watching Heero wheel his godfather's motorcycle into the cargo hold of the plane where it was promptly secured between the two Gundams that had been loaded into the plane while he was restoring Deathscythe. He wasn't afraid of flying, he was familiar enough with planes to know they could fly as well or better than most brooms after all. His apprehension stemmed from the fact that, for better or for worse, he'd just placed his life into the hands of five teens combined with the knowledge that he could easily end up fighting in a war he knew nothing about.

As Harry buckled himself into his seat, he glanced out at the setting sun through the window beside him and chuckled darkly as he realized he'd gotten his wish after all; he now had a purpose (of sorts).

* * *

**AN:** _Harry's finally starting to recover his strength now, though he's still not yet at one hundred percent and his wish has been granted in a round about way. Wufei's interested has been captured by the considerable potential of Harry's magic, Duo got to experience zero gravity on earth, and Harry's inner Gryffindor came out to play for a bit the moment Harry climbed on his broom. Harry's emotions have also calmed a bit after his earlier heart to heart with Quatre though don't expect him to suddenly become a happy-go-lucky kid; he still has a few issues to work through. _

_Harry's meeting with Wufei didn't pan out the way I originally wanted it to and I think that has a lot to do with the imagery that I used to represent him; hard to be snappy with someone that reminds you of a dangerous and deadly creature that is proud and intelligent. So I left it as it was instead of trying to force a confrontation. Plus I think it probably irritated Duo that Harry didn't immediately attack or insult the uptight know-it-all on first sight and all because the other teen shared the same last name as someone Harry knew from home. _

_Anyway, I'd like to thank each and everyone of my readers; this story has drawn far more interest than any of my other stories bar my HP/Pokemon crossover and I've not even posted a quarter of what I have written. The next update will be on Haunted, since it's been over a week since I've updated my HP/Yujincho crossover. I'll post chapter thirteen here when I finish spot editing it and when I can find the between all of the shifting and cleaning that needs to be done. ~ Jenn_


	13. A Night of Mayhem and Madness

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 12: A Night of Mayhem and Madness

Heero wasn't the only one to glance sharply at Harry as the pint-sized teen began chuckling darkly after he'd buckled himself into his seat. Concerned, Heero turned to Quatre to see if the empathic teen had picked up on what Harry was feeling only to find the blonde staring at the Harry with a sad smile. Heero resolved to question his fellow pilot later as he resumed his trek up to the cockpit where he'd be spending most of the flight alongside Duo.

At the moment, he focused on going through the pre-flight checks with Duo, his annoyance with the rather obnoxious teen for once not present as his mind half stayed on Harry's strange reaction. Glancing back through the open door, Heero caught sight of Harry intently listening to Quatre as the blonde explained something; the kid's ability to focus so completely to what was obviously a long winded lecture making it far easier to believe the kid was really seventeen years old.

"What do ya think was runnin' through da little demon's mind when he laughed just now?" Duo inquired as he fired up the engines.

"Don't tell me you're still sore about him hanging you upside down earlier," Heero shot back as he pulled his gaze away from the person in question and attended to his duties as co-pilot.

"Ya have no idea how annoyin' that was."

"Actually, I do; only you got off easy. He left me hanging like that for close to five hours," Heero countered easily; not at all concerned that the other teen could potentially use the information against him.

"Five hours!? Damn Hee-man, what did ya do ta piss him off that badly?"

"I let my temper get the best of me; the little snot was being irritating and I was desperate for answers," Heero answered honestly as the plane picked up speed and slowly lifted off the ground. "He was expecting it though and the next thing I knew I was hanging upside down."

"He's got some wicked fast reflexes, that's for certain."

"Fast would be an accurate description and I don't just mean his reflexes and reaction times. He's light on his feet as well; almost as if he was born running. He's also very intuitive and intelligent."

"Which brings me back ta my original question, why do ya think he reacted like he did when he first got onta da plane? Do ya think we're gonna have ta worry about him flakin' out on us at some point?"

"No… he won't cause any trouble," Heero stated with conviction as they settled at cruising altitude and aimed the plain towards Japan. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he reached some kind of conclusion that he found ironic or something along those lines. He reacted much the same way at one point during the conversation I had with him yesterday."

"Was that da one where he'd threatened ta hurt ya and make ya regret livin'?"

"Yeah…"

"Quite a way with words da little monster has, no?"

"You should hear him when he starts swearing up a storm; he's very creative when he wants to be."

"Ya can say that again," Duo replied with a laugh. "It should be smooth sailin' from here if ya want ta go check on da brat. We've got at least four hours before we reach da drop point."

"I think I will, just for a little while at least… just give me a holler if something comes up before I return."

"Ya got it, Hee-man."

"I think maybe I'll have to convince Harry to string you up by your feet every time you use that dreadful nickname," Heero mused thoughtfully before he walked out of the cockpit leaving Duo to stew nervously over the casual threat.

He found Harry sitting on the floor with Quatre and Wufei, the three of them playing cards. Harry had just picked up the deck and was currently shuffling the cards, his hands manipulating the cards with far more confidence and dexterity than a normal eight year old would. He flicked the cards out fairly expertly as well, never flipping the cards clumsily or overshooting his mark as he dealt out four hands. Once he finished, the kid looked right up at Heero and silently tilted his head letting the pilot know that the kid had known he was there watching the entire time.

Heero couldn't help the brief smirk that passed over his face as he moved forward, claimed his hand, and asked, "What are we playing? Poker? Gin Rummy?"

"Go Fish," Harry absently replied. "Do you have any fives, Quatre?"

"Go fish," Quatre replied with a laugh as Heero stared at Harry in disbelief.

Harry snickered and drew a card from the stock only to pout as he added it to his hand indicating that he'd not gotten the five he'd been hoping for. After getting over the idea of playing such a childish game, Heero allowed himself to relax enough to actually enjoy the rather cutthroat version of the game. He also noted that Harry's emotions seemed to bounce between almost happiness and bitter sadness and it made Heero wonder what the kid was thinking. When it was Wufei's turn to deal, the game changed to one of the many variations of Poker. Quatre then chose to play Hearts; taking the time to explain the rules to Harry, who'd apparently never played that particular game before.

Heero chose another variation of Poker since it was one he was very familiar with. He was surprised when Harry followed with Blackjack as he'd expected him to pick another childish game; which upon reflection was unrealistic of him since he knew Harry was far older than he appeared. The smirk Harry flashed his way let him know that Harry knew exactly what he'd been thinking and Heero realized that the game of Fish had been instigated by Harry to purposefully throw off Heero perceptions. Huffing, Heero rolled his eyes and simply enjoyed the game; wondering how Harry would do if they were playing for money instead of just playing for show.

After a couple more games, Heero climbed to his feet and retreated to the cockpit in order to allow Duo a break and to give himself time to process what he'd just learned about Harry. As he settled into his seat, Heero heard Duo's happy chatter drifting back through the open door and Heero couldn't help but wonder which game Harry was going to test Duo with. About twenty minute later, he found out when he heard Harry's childish voice ring out loudly calling someone a cheat. That seemed odd to Heero since Harry hadn't accused anyone of cheating earlier when he'd been playing only for clarity to come when Duo crassly called out 'bullshit' a few minutes later.

Shaking his head, Heero thought back to earlier that morning when he'd caught sight of Harry flashing by his window unexpectedly. His heart had damn near stopped as he watched some of the stunts the kid was pulling but at the same time he couldn't help but be impressed with the control that Harry had exhibited in flying a broom (of all things). It made Heero wonder if the kid would be able to apply those same instincts to piloting an airplane or a mobile suit. That thought actually made Heero feel a bit uncomfortable but before he could fully explore the reason why Duo returned and the two of them began discussing their impromptu mission.

When it came time to drop the Gundams, Heero once again left Duo to his flying as he headed back to assist Wufei and Quatre. He caught sight of Harry staring at the Gundams as the two pilots climbed inside and began running through their pre-flight procedures as they fired up their suits. He wondered briefly at the blank look on the kid's face before he opened the cargo bay door and watched first Wufei and then Quatre drop out the back. He then closed the bay door and headed back up front only to pause when he saw Harry was still staring into the nearly empty cargo bay.

"Something on your mind, Harry?"

"How do they do it?"

"How do they do what?"

"How can they sit there playing and laughing one minute and then climb into one of those machines knowing they're going out there to kill other people? How is it possible to live with yourself knowing you've killed someone…? How do you continue on with your life as if nothing has happened, as if there is no guilt eating away at you from the inside out and painting your dreams with blood?"

"We don't enjoy taking other lives even if that is what we have been trained to do for years," Heero replied softly, easily realizing that Harry's questions weren't really about Quatre and Wufei but his own guilt for the life he'd taken and the deaths he believed were his fault; Heero easily recalling the heart to heart the wizard had had with Quatre a few days earlier. "It might seem like it doesn't bother us but it does. We make the time to laugh and live when we are not out fighting because if we didn't we'd probably go insane from the guilt we feel from the lives we take in order to stop a war that could destroy everything. We don't go out seeking to murder people in cold blood though; we only fight those who attack us or those who pose a threat to us and those we wish to protect. War is ugly and wars kill people; both soldiers and civilians."

Moving closer, Heero crouched down so he could both look Harry in the eye and appear less threatening as he noticed how tense Harry had grown. He waited to see if Harry would ask another question or comment on his explanation but when Harry simply watched him with turbulent green eyes; he cast about for some way to address what he thought was the underlying issue in a way the kid could relate to.

"It also helps to consider what would happen if certain people don't die. Say there is a man who enjoys torturing and murdering innocent people. Only when he attacks his next chosen victim that person fights back and manages to kill him instead. Would you consider that victim to be a murderer or would you see him or her as a hero to all of those people the man would have potentially targeted once he was finished with that person? What about the families of his previous victims; do you think they would see that person as a murderer or as the person who avenged their missing loved ones?"

"I don't know. What if the person who killed him is just as terrible? Does one murderer killing another murderer really make the first murderer a better person just because he killed the second murderer before he himself was killed? Can someone who kills to selfishly save himself truly be a hero when the only reason he killed the other person was because he was afraid to die?" Harry demanded in return. "And what do you call those people that get other people killed because of the stupid mistakes they've made? Can you really call someone a hero when their actions are directly responsible for an innocent teen being killed? When the only reason that the teen was there in the first place was because I unwittingly dragged him into the spotlight alongside me because I selfishly didn't want to stand alone?"

"Did you fire the weapon that struck them down?" Heero asked in response instead of bothering to answer the first group of questions that the shorter teen had thrown him; instinctively knowing the second group of questions were the ones that needed to be addressed. It was obvious in the way Harry had switched from the generic references used in the majority of his questions to more a personal reference in that final question.

"No, but if not for me he never would have been there in the first place because they didn't want him; they wanted me."

"Did you know they were looking for you at the time?"

"Not exactly… but I knew someone wanted me dead because I never should have been in the stupid Tournament in the first place. I should have expected them to try something because it was the last task, their last chance to get to me, and I foolishly thought it was over just because we reached the center of the maze."

"But you still didn't know that they were going to strike at that moment, did you?"

"No."

"If you didn't know and you didn't fire the weapon; then you didn't kill anyone and it is not your fault he died."

"What if the only reason the man who killed him was still alive was because I saved his life and let him escape?"

"Was there a reason you saved his life?"

"I didn't want my godfather to go back to prison and thought if we turned over the person who framed him to the authorities than I could finally have a family. Only… only first Snape interfered and then Professor Lupin… it was the full moon and if not for Snape being late with Moony's potion that night and then not even bothering to bring the potion with him when he followed us; Moony wouldn't have been a threat that night. Wormtail escaped and though we had a second chance to recapture him we didn't. I know Hermione only stopped me because she was afraid I'd get myself killed and there were rules we had to follow so we didn't mess things up. I still tried but failed anyway and because I let Pettigrew escape, he was able to kill Cedric; so it is my fault that Cedric died."

"Or maybe he died because other people around you made certain you failed," Heero shrewdly suggested as he recognized a couple of the names from the journal entries he'd read and from a few of the rants Harry had given. "Kind of conceited of you to think the world revolves around your every action, don't you think?"

"Maybe," Harry hedged as Heero watched some of the tension leave the kid's shoulders. "I… why are you being so nice to me now? I know you want to keep me close because I can be considered a threat due to my abilities and because you want me to use my magic to give you an advantage… but that doesn't require you to be nice to me."

"Hurting you or treating you as a prisoner wouldn't accomplish anything as I've personally witnessed thanks to my blunder when we first met. You deserve to be treated as a person regardless of your abilities and all five of us honestly wish to help you. Sure, the potential your magic offers is an added incentive to keep you happy and cooperative but we would still treat you the same way even if you didn't have any special abilities. I also owe it to you to make up for what I did."

"I think I understand but that doesn't mean I like you or anything," Harry replied as he scrunched up his nose and half glared at Heero. The shorter teen then sighed and frowned slightly as he turned away and softly added, "And thank you, for listening to me and answering my questions; not many people would have bothered or even understood."

"You're welcome."

"_Hee-man…? What are ya doing back there? We're nearing your drop off point, are ya ready ta go?_" Duo demanded as his voice echoed back from the front of the plane.

"We're getting ready right now, Maxwell," Heero called back with a hint of exasperation as he glanced towards the front of the plane before he turned back towards Harry and ordered, "Go grab your helmet and put your jacket on, Harry."

Five minutes later, Heero was sitting astride the antique motorcycle (because really the thing was ancient when compared with the motorbikes of this day and age) with the motor idling silently and Harry sitting stiffly in front of him. He would have preferred to have the kid sitting behind him but there were several reasons for their current arrangement; one – Harry wouldn't have willingly held onto him if he'd been sitting on the back, two – Harry had to be able to reach the buttons to turn on the various features of the bike, and three – Heero could offer Harry a bit more protection in the event they were shot down out of the sky seated as they were.

The cargo bay was opened by Duo from the cockpit using the pilot's override the moment Heero told the other pilot they were ready and Heero revved the engine as Harry leaned slightly forward to stare down into the darkness below them. "_Hold on tight, Harry,_" Heero instructed through the communication radios that had been installed in their helmets and he saw Harry nod as the smaller teen sat back up and grabbed hold of the sturdy strap that Heero had wrapped around the gas tank as a hand grip for the wizard.

"_You're clear ta drop, Zero-One,_" Duo announced without his usual teasing a moment later over the connection.

"_On the move now, Zero-Two,_" Heero called back as he pushed the bike forward before lifting his feet off the ground while cranking steadily back on the gas. The bike shot out of the cargo bay like a bat out of hell and there was a split second where they seemed to soar across the sky before gravity began pulling them down and Heero felt a brief moment of panic as he wondered how the hell he'd allowed himself to be talked into attempting to fly a _motorcycle_ (of all things) before he pushed the feeling away and focused on the task at hand.

It was at that point, just before the front wheel of the motorcycle could began pointing towards the ground, that he softly ordered, "_Engage flight mode, Harry._"

Harry leaned forward and reached out with one hand to engage the clutch while thumbing the rune button that activated the flight mode and the bike bucked for a moment before the ride smoothed out and the two of them began soaring through the sky as if they were flying on an airplane instead of a motorcycle. Once he was certain the flight charms were fully engaged, Harry sat back and returned his hand to grip beside his other hand. The kid then leaned fearlessly to one side to curiously peek down at the blackness that was the ocean and the sea of lights that dotted the island country of Japan off in the distance.

"_Flight mode engaged successfully, engaging invisibility booster in five, four, three, two, one,_" Heero intoned as Harry's fingers darted out a second time to press the gray button that sat centered between the handlebars and the entire bike plus both riders vanished completely from view. He then added, "_Stealth mode fully activated, proceeding with mission._"

"_Roger that, Zero-One; watch yourselves down there. I'll see ya in three hours tops._"

There was nothing else for Heero to say, so he leaned forward a bit and did his best to ignore the way Harry tensed as it brought him into physical contact with the smaller boy. The thrill of flying soon had the kid relaxing again though as Heero angled the bike to cut south as he headed for the small island off the southern coast of Japan where Harry's cave was hidden. Up ahead of them the night suddenly exploded in color as the two Gundams opened fire on the troops patrolling the beach.

"_This is Zero-One reporting our current position as en-route at cruising altitude and rapidly approaching our objective from the north. Estimated time of arrival is ten minutes._"

"_I read you loud and clear, Zero-One,_" Wufei's voice announced over the connection. "_Zero-Four and I are currently driving the troops south and east out over the ocean. There are two carriers on the ocean that might have heat scanners; I'm heading there to remove them from the equation now._"

"_Roger that, Zero-Five; I will let you know when we reach the coast._"

"_They will expect trouble to come from the north since they are being chased south,_" Harry suddenly announced as he craned forward to watch the series of small explosions that formed a line of after images out to the middle of the ocean where two huge explosions suddenly rocked the night and filled the sky with orange flames. "_If you drop us down and approach along the cliff from the south, we can drop down through the wards without risking being seen by anyone that didn't give chase to the others while those on the south side will be too busy with the others to notice us._"

"_And if there are suits stationed up on the cliff?_" Heero inquired.

"_There isn't really any room up there for more than a handful of them and they would be sitting far enough back that they aren't in danger of falling over the edge and won't have a clear view of anything sitting below the edge. So long as we stay below their direct line of sight, we should be fine._"

"_That was rather well reasoned out for someone who has no experience in these kinds of things,_" Heero replied as he angled the bike slightly so that they'd come out to the south of the cave when they reached the coast instead of to the north; the others aware of the change in plans as they'd overheard Harry's suggestions through the active radio connection.

"_I spent most of my childhood running and hiding from my bully of a cousin and his gang; these guys we're facing might have better tools and toys than Dudley did but they are essentially nothing but bullies from what you've told me about them. I also spent four years living in a magical castle where more than three-quarters of the population either wished to kill me in a slow and painful manner or shove me in a broom closet so they could claim to have scored with the __**Boy-Who-Lived**__._"

"_I quickly learned how to outsmart the rabid fan-girls, the Death Eaters in Waiting, and the rest of the jealous rabble that would have been happy to see me disappear. The rest of the population didn't seem to care one way or the other, though there were times when it was an all or nothing deal when the entire student population either adored me for some stupid reason or I was universally hated because I did something they disapproved of; like when they discovered I had an ability that was considered both rare and dark._"

"_What ability was that?_" Heero asked curiously, wanting to keep the kid talking as it kept him from focusing on his discomfort as Heero wrapped an arm around Harry's waist and leaned to the side to swing the bike around so they were following the island coast heading north now towards Harry's cave. "_This is Zero-One with an update on our current position; we're on the final approach and will be dropping through the wards in less than two minutes._"

"_Roger that, Zero-One, southern approach is clear. ETA for enemy reinforcements is nine minutes and counting,_" Quatre replied this time.

"_Understood, Zero-Four,_" Heero responded as he dropped the bike down several hundred feet to drop below the rim of the cliff in which Harry's cave had been carved. The blue eyed pilot then addressed his passenger once more, "_Sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to cut you off. What ability was it they ridiculed you for?_"

"_I wasn't ridiculed; I was reviled. There were attacks on students that year and because I could do something that a feared Dark Wizard was well known for, I was blamed; despite the fact that they had no proof. The rest of the students feared me and hated me in turns even though I'd never before done anything to hurt anyone and the professors and staff turned a blind eye to the accusations. They did the same thing in my fourth year when my name came out of the Goblet and I was forced to fight in the Tri-Wizard Tournament._"

"_People are stupid… what is it that you can do that bothered the other students so much?_"

"_You just flew right past the cave._"

Heero cursed and held onto Harry once again as he slowed down and spun the bike in mid air so they were now heading back the way they came as he dropped closer to the ground as Harry directed him to where he needed to be. Less than thirty seconds later, they were slipping through the wards as Heero sent one last message before the magic in the wards killed the radios (there having been no time to turn them off before the passed through the leading line of the wards). That was not unexpected though and one of the things that Heero would be doing while Harry was packing would be changing out the radios in their helmets so they wouldn't be flying in silence once they were finished.

Harry had explained that the electronics wouldn't be affected by his magic if they weren't in use at the time they were exposed to the magic; it was only when a device had an active current running through it when it came into contact with a large concentration of magic that would short out the device (which is why Heero's Gundam had been only partially affected unlike Duo's since only a small portion of Wing's systems had still be active when Harry had summoned the suit out of the ocean).

As they touched down on the ground, Heero cut the power to the motorcycle and Harry practically dove off the bike as he yanked off the helmet and dropped it on the ground before dashing into the cave while frowning over his shoulder in Heero's direction briefly. Sighing, Heero pulled his own helmet off as he climbed off the bike, grabbed Harry's discarded helmet, and set about changing out the radios. It didn't take long to switch out the devices and he took care to make certain both of the radios were off so that when they left the wards there would be no risk of frying the tiny circuits.

He then propped both helmets on top of the bike before he wandered through the salvaged parts and glanced at the Leo suit that Harry had pulled from the sea the same time he'd pulled out Heero's Gundam. A quick glance back at the cave revealed that Harry had not yet finished and Heero returned his gaze to the Leo as he recalled his earlier thoughts about how Harry's talent flying on a broom might translate over to a mobile suit. He knew the suit was pretty much the same condition that Wing had been in (meaning only a handful of the circuits had been fried) and wondered if it would be worth it to take the suit for them to play with and better research the weaknesses inherent in the Leo.

He hummed thoughtfully to himself as he checked the cave's entrance a second time just as Harry walked out seemingly empty handed. Heero also noted that the wizard looked far more alert and showed no signs of feeling any lingering pain from his injuries; leading the pilot to assume that the kid had taken a few potions while he'd been gathering his things.

"Harry, come here a moment," Heero called as caught the kid's eye. "Do you think you would be able to shrink this suit down like you shrank Maxwell's Gundam, only making it small enough for us to carry so we can take it with us so we can take it as well?"

"Yes," Harry replied slowly as he reluctantly approached the suit as requested and glanced up at Heero briefly before he turned to stare at the suit with distaste and distrust that was slightly confusing until Heero came to the realization that the kid was probably projecting part of the blame for being taken from his cave on the suit. "Why?"

"So we can research the suit and discover any weaknesses we've missed and once it has been repaired, we can teach you how to operate it if you are interested."

"I will shrink it for you but it will be a cold day in hell before you get me to touch the damn thing let alone climb inside."

Heero was startled by the outburst as Harry positioned himself so he was standing beside the middle of the suit. As he watched, the kid swept his wand from left to right as he practically spat out the incantation as a blue light engulfed the suit which caused it to slowly begin shrinking down until it reached the size of an over large action figure. A second spell was applied then but Heero wasn't certain of the function and he didn't have time to ask as Harry backed away from the suit immediately afterwards and hurried over to the motorcycle to jam his helmet onto his head.

Heero frowned at him but quickly shook off his confusion over the kid's behavior and declaration as he leaned down and lifted the shrunken suit off the ground. He knew exactly what the second spell was meant to do the moment he had the suit in his hand; the doll sized suit now weighing as light as a feather instead of a several tons. Tucking the 'doll' into his jacket, Heero returned to Harry's side and put on his own helmet before leaning forward to ask, "You were able to get everything you needed?"

Harry edged further away from Heero, his eyes focused on the slight bulge the suit made beneath Heero's jacket as he gave a single sharp nod before scrambling into place on the bike. Sliding into place behind the kid, Heero kick started the Triumph and grinned as he heard the engine roar to life before settling into a steady rumble that quickly disappeared as Harry slapped his hand on the proper button to silence the machine. Harry then immediately hit the invisibility booster because they would be driving out over the beach in order to pick up enough speed to engage the flight mode. This would be the most dangerous part of their mission because they would be vulnerable until they managed to take off; especially when traveling over the sand.

"Ready, Harry?"

Harry nodded again as he slipped his wand up the left sleeve of his jacket where it would be within easy reach if he needed to protect them since they had no other weapons available to them on the bike (unless Heero counted his own pistols). Scanning the beach directly in front of them for any sign of enemy suits, Heero moved them forward towards the tide line as it would be easier to drive over the wet sand than it would be over dry sand. He paused just outside of the wards in order to turn on the radios in both his helmet and Harry's as he glanced right and left to search for threats.

"_Mission complete, preparing to withdrawal from hostile territory,_" Heero announced without preamble.

"_Good to hear you again, Zero-One,_" Quatre breathed in relief. "_The beach is crawling with suits both north and south of you and they've got reinforcements along the cliffs that are giving us headaches. We can't give you more than five minutes to get out of there as we're running low on munitions._"

"_Understood, Zero-Four, we'll head north and circle around to the south before cutting west. Once those five minutes are up, get yourselves out of there no matter what is happening with us. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point in an hour if at all possible._"

"_You need to move, now, Hee… Zero-One,_" Harry suddenly stated (tripping a bit over Heero's code name) as he whipped out his wand and cast a shield charm that deflected several rounds of bullets that had been fired at them by a sleek new mobile suit that Heero didn't recognize. Once the rain of bullets stopped, Harry dropped the shield and fired off the gouging spell he'd been using to create the second cave as Heero twisted the bike and shot off towards the south even as the suit behind him exploded in a spectacular explosion as the spell first punched a hole through the suit before the destructive magic in the spell ruptured outwards destroying it completely.

"_Thanks for the warning, kid. Change of plan guys, I'm heading south to avoid the new toys they're using down here._"

"_Those are the new Taurus class suits,_" Wufei interjected as he recognized the newly arrived suits. "_They must have made more of them after I destroyed their prototypes in Africa._"

"_Joy. What can you tell me about them?_" Heero asked before he let out a curse and swerved widely as Harry unexpectedly ducked under his arm and climbed around him as they went speeding around the shoreline of the island. Cursing loudly a second time, Heero eased the bike back into his control as he felt the kid standing up on the bike behind him. He automatically cut their speed out of fear that Harry would fall of even as he demanded, "_What the hell are you doing, Harry? Are you trying to get yourself thrown from the bike?_"

"_Shut up and drive before you get us killed. I'm not going to fall off; I used a sticking charm to hold my feet in place. Someone has to cover your back because if you get shot; I'm screwed!_"

"_Saints preserve me,_" Heero hissed as he cranked on the gas and they shot off down the beach as two more explosions rang out behind them in the night; his mind no longer worried about gathering data on the new suits.

Harry simply snorted over the connection as he steadily continued to pick off the suits that were tracking them through their heat signature until Sandrock suddenly appeared and took up a defensive stance on their back trail. Harry sighed and slumped back against Heero's back for a moment, panting slightly as he wiped away the sweat that built up after using the high powered gouging spell so many times in a row (having overpowered the spell intentionally each time in order to do as much damage as possible with each shot).

Once the kid caught his breath, Heero felt Harry swing himself back around into place before he leaned forward to engage the flight mode even as his other hand sought out the hand hold Heero had strapped around the gas tank. The bike gave a mighty jerk as it lifted up off the ground and Heero pushed the bike to its limits as he climbed into the sky and swung the bike around to the west as he heard the sound of several suits lifting up off the ground in pursuit. A quick glance backwards revealed a trio of the black Aries that OZ's Special Forces used chasing him along with two more of the newer suits. Cursing beneath his breath, Heero shot upwards to gain more altitude as he cut back towards the open water in order to prevent any debris from crashing to the ground and killing an innocent.

"Hold on tight, Harry, things are about to get a little rough."

"_You better not break Padfoot's bike._"

"Got it; preserve the blasted motorcycle over our lives," Heero sniped sarcastically over Harry's apparent worry for the bike just because it had once belonged to his godfather; then again, breaking the bike would mean their death flying as they were several hundred feet above the ground. "Can I trust you to watch our back and keep the enemy from getting too close to us?"

"_Unless you'd prefer that I invite them over for tea and crumpets; yeah, 'cause I'm not in the mood to take part in a private reenactment of the Spanish Inquisition any time soon._"

"Think you could disable one of the purple suits and shrink it so we can take it with us to find out more about it?"

"_Yeah, but I'll have to save that for last._"

"Alright, ready when you are then, kid."

"_Remind me to hex you for that later, will you?_" Harry replied tiredly as he slipped back around Heero and once more stuck his feet to the seat as he fired off two quick spells that had twin explosions tearing through the sky.

Just a few minutes later, Heero felt Harry crashing into his back as the pilot was forced to swerve hard to the left to avoid two more of the purple suits that joined the chase. Heero then angled the bike downwards before leaning sideways so that the bike skidded across the sky on its side as they swung wide of a beam cannon blast that nearly incinerated them. The pilot heard Harry cursing his luck before he asked Heero to get him close to one of the purple suits because they moved too fast for him to hit in the air.

They circled back around and slipped into a corkscrew that placed them squarely behind one of the purple suits and Harry hit it in the back with the gouging spell as Heero jerked the handle bars up to shoot the bike up and away from the explosion. Shortly after that the bike was clipped by a blast from one of the beam rifles of their pursuers and they were knocked backwards as the force of the blast disrupted both the invisibility and silencing spell on the bike leaving them visible and vulnerable in the middle of the sky and scored both pilot and passenger with burning hot bits of metal and rubber.

"_Merlin's sagging left… you bloody inconsiderate piss-ants just busted Padfoot's bike,_" Harry hissed angrily in a voice laced with pain.

Heero barely had time to register Harry's angry tirade before a circular wave of near unseen energy burst out from Harry, frying the systems of the final four suits that were chasing them as well as the replacement radios Heero had installed in their helmets. Twelve more spells flashed out in rapid succession as Harry shrank, lightened, and summoned all four of the mobile suits. He snagged them out of the air one at a time before he once again dropped back to lean on Heero as exhaustion set in.

As the kid's hold on consciousness began floundering the bike began spluttering and losing altitude as it steadily lost power (the flight spell siphoning magic directly from the wizard in order to maintain flight) and Heero was forced to land rather roughly due to the damage done to the back wheel by the hit they'd taken just a few minutes earlier. Once on the ground, Heero got Harry to remain awake just long enough to shrink the bike and helmets down so he could pocket them (knowing the kid would never forgive him if it got left behind). Heero then tucked the four additional purloined suits into his jacket with the Leo and checked to see how badly Harry had been injured when the bike had been hit before he gathered the now unconscious pint sized teen into his arms.

Heero then studied his surroundings before heading into the forest they'd landed beside in order to avoid walking out in the open where they'd be easily spotted until he could find a way to get in touch with the others. He had been walking for several hours when he noticed the trees thinning out and he nearly groaned when he broke through the edge of forest and found himself stumbling onto a party of some kind on the grounds of one of the local schools. Cursing his luck Heero slipped backwards into the shadows beneath the trees and tried to decide what to do now when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching.

"Hello? Is there someone there? I couldn't help but notice you just now and wondered what you were doing over here all alone while everyone else was enjoying the music and the food," a girl babbled as she edged closer.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to crash your party," Heero murmured as he quickly thought up a cover story. "My brother and I were out exploring the countryside when our bike ran out of gas and we got lost when we tried cutting through the forest thinking we'd get home faster that way. Can you tell me how to reach the main road from here?"

"Oh! You must be exhausted from tramping through the forest all day. Please, allow me to help you; I can get you both a little something to eat while you rest and then you can borrow my phone to call your parents so they don't worry about you. My driver is here with my car so I can even provide you with a ride home if they can't come and get you tonight."

"Thank you, your offer is generous but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Nonsense, I can't just let you leave if you are in trouble."

"I… thank you," Heero replied as he hid his frustration and finally stepped out of the shadows and got a good look at the young teen who had insisted on helping him. He nearly groaned out loud when he recognized Relena Darlian; daughter of the recently deceased Vice-Foreign-Minister Darlian.

"Oh, your brother is so adorable. And… is that blood on your shirt? Are you injured?"

"Only because he's sleeping," Heero quipped with honest exasperation as he glanced down at the top of Harry's head nestled against his shoulder. "And I'm fine, just a few scratches here and there."

"Such a comedian," Relena laughed before she blushed lightly. "Oh, listen to me, where are my manners; my name is Relena Darlian."

He wasn't certain why he did it but instead of introducing himself by his full mission alias, Heero used the first last name he could think of as he gave the diplomat's daughter a spur of the moment alias as well as assigning one to Harry, "Heero Black at your service, ma'am, and sleeping beauty here is my little brother James."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Black. I look forward to properly meeting your brother once he wakes as well. Come on, I'll show you to a place where you can set your brother down long enough to use my phone to contact your parents while I fix the two of you a plate and fetch the first aide kit so you can treat your injuries."

"Thank you," Heero replied as he let her assumption regarding his and Harry's non-existent parents slide in order to avoid any unnecessary questions or pity.

They were just approaching the entrance to the school when all hell broke loose as five of the black Special Aries used by OZ arrived and Heero cursed his luck a second time as the other teens began screaming the moment the suits open fired on the courtyard. Relena helped organize the retreat while Heero sank back into the shadows hoping that he wouldn't be seen. To his shock the mobile suits appeared to be targeting Relena instead of him and he suddenly recalled that her father had died in a supposed terrorist attack on one of the colonies.

At the time he heard the news, Heero (and the other four Gundam pilots) had suspected OZ to be behind the attack and if the suits were here after Relena (not chasing after him as he originally believed) then it lent credence to their suspicions. Making a decision he hoped he wasn't going to regret, Heero darted out from the shadows and jerked Relena out of the way of a flurry of machine gun fire before pulling her into the building where they were somewhat sheltered.

"You can't stand out in the open like that, they were obviously targeting you," Heero barked as he hustled Relena through the building while avoiding windows and any heavy objects that could crash down on them if knocked over.

"How… how did you know they were targeting me?" Relena asked tremulously.

"Aside from the fact that their attacks were focused on you rather than the rest of the kids running for their lives? Your father was recently killed in a supposed terrorist attack on one of the colonies and you were identified as one of the only survivors of the bombing. Logically, that would mean that you actually witnessed the attack and more than likely know who was responsible for the attack and the ones responsible are aware of that. The fact that those suits turned up at a party you were attending means that they recognize you as a threat and so they came here to eliminate you in order to prevent you from revealing whatever it is that you know or that they suspect you know."

"How…?"

"Not important right now, girl. You mentioned a car earlier… where is it?"

"This way," Relena replied as she began dragging Heero along much as he'd been dragging her along just moments earlier. "Why did you come after me? Don't you know you placed yourself and your brother in danger by helping me? Your parents are going to be so angry with you if anything happens to little James."

"I'm sure they'll understand once I explain the situation to them," Heero assured the troubled teen in keeping with the ruse that Miss Darlian had helpfully supplied him. "My brother and I were in danger the moment OZ turned up here and started attacking anyway. Besides, who else was going to pull you out of harm's way when they were all too busy running for their lives to notice you placing yourself in danger to save them?"

Their conversation was interrupted at that point as the building exploded around them and Heero pulled Relena down into an open doorway knowing that the structure of the doorway had a better chance of protecting them from the building crashing down around their ears. Kneeling on the ground over the young woman and Harry, Heero wondered if his current predicament was his punishment for torturing Harry when he first met the kid. He shoved the thought away a minute later as the building finally settled down around them and he discovered that they hadn't been squashed like bugs.

"Hold still and don't talk, try to relax and not do anything to draw attention our way; we can only hope they'll believe they succeeded in assassinating you," Heero murmured in a low voice that didn't carry very far.

Another fifteen minutes later, Heero slowly sat up to see how much room they had to move and found that they weren't quite as bad off as he originally feared but much worse than he'd hoped. He only prayed that Harry slept through the rest of the ordeal because he had no idea if the kid was claustrophobic or not. Nor did he have any idea how Harry would react to their present company as he'd never seen how Harry behaved around women because the kid hadn't spent any time around any girls in all the time Heero had known him. Shifting so there was enough room for her to sit up, Heero gathered Harry back into his arms as he breached the silence again.

"You can sit up a bit now, Miss Darlian. We don't have much room but it could have been far worse. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I think I'm alright, I don't feel any pain," Relena replied as she sat up and took in their predicament with wide eyes. "How long do you think it will take them to dig us out? And after saving my life twice in one night, you've earned the right to call me Relena."

"I don't know and I don't know if it is safe enough for us to let them find us because whoever it is that finds us might just be part of the group that just tried to kill you and then we'd be sitting ducks."

"What do you suggest then?"

"First of all, do you have a cell phone on you and is there someone you could call who would have been in the area and can be discreet enough not to announce your unexpected survival to any enemies that are still in the area?"

"Yes, Pagan (my family's butler and my driver) should be somewhere near here and he is very loyal to my family."

"Perfect, give him a call but tell him not to tell anyone else that you're alright. Does he know you witnessed your father's death? Then it is best to tell him that you believe the same people are after you and warn him not to say anything to anyone about you still being alive just yet in case they are still in the area."

While she was doing that, Heero leaned down and checked on Harry, thankful that the kid was still out like a light. He was also a bit worried because Harry usually woke up fairly quickly if he sensed he was in any danger even when he was what he called magically exhausted (not counting the long weeks he'd been sick). It had now been well over five hours since their forced landing and Harry hadn't shown any signs of waking. Then again, it had been quite some time since Harry had used such a large amount of magic and the kid had only been up and out of bed for a day or two so maybe it wasn't all that surprising.

He was just wondering what he was going to do with the kid (given his current condition) when a bright pink cell phone was practically shoved beneath his nose as Relena declared, "So you can call your parents in order to let them know the two of you are alright."

"I… thank you," Heero replied after hesitatingly accepting the offer when he realized it was most likely the only opportunity he was going to get to contact the others any time soon.

He also knew his fellow pilots would be worried about the two of them because they hadn't been able to make it to their meeting point in the time allotted and they'd been out of radio contact since Harry unintentionally fried their backup radios in his anger over the bike having been damaged. After a few seconds thought, Heero used one hand to enter the number to Duo's phone since he didn't know what kind of situation Quatre and Wufei were in. He only hoped the long haired pilot had his phone on him and wasn't in any trouble at the moment. He nearly sighed out loud when Duo answered without any of his usual playful obnoxiousness.

"_Maxwell here_."

"Maxwell, it's Hee-man," Heero muttered all the while mentally cringing over the need to refer to himself by the horrible nickname but he knew the other pilot would pick up the subtle hint that he was both who he said he was and that he wasn't at liberty to give away any information. "I just wanted to let you and our folks know that our bratty little brother and I are alright but we've ran into a slight bit of trouble. I'm hoping to salvage the situation but we're in a bit of a bind at the moment; though we did manage to rescue a damsel in distress."

"_About damn time ya let us know ya were alright,_" Duo practically yelled over the phone. "_Do ya have any idea how worried we've been!? It's been five hours since Wuff-man saw ya shot down and when we couldn't raise ya on da radio or find ya on da grid we began fearin' da worst. Where da hell are ya two and how is da little demon holdin' up?_"

"Our radio was fried unexpectedly, our bike ran out of gas so we had to ditch it, and we got lost in the forest at some point. James is alright if exhausted. We'll be stuck here for a while though; so let everyone know we're alright and that I'll call you again when we're on our way home so they don't have to worry any more."

"_Yeah, if ya need any help extractin' yourself from whatever trouble da two of ya found call me back, Hee-man. And ya know our resident Clown is gonna skin ya alive if ya let anything happen ta da little monster so soon after how sick he'd been, right?_"

"I know, Maxwell, I'm doing the best I can in light of our current situation. Unfortunately, it's not quite as roomy here as it was in that old fort James made on the beach and the bugs swarming the area are just as much of a hassle as the ones that were hovering around the fort. I'll call you back when I can."

"_Roger that._"

"You have an interesting family," Relena remarked as she accepted her phone back.

"You have no idea," Heero blandly replied before he froze as he felt Harry stirring in his arms. Knowing he had to keep the kid from either panicking or saying something inappropriate in front of Relena, Heero leaned down to whisper, "Hey, kid, I need you to stay calm as we're in a bit of a predicament here and we've got a bit of company; so make certain you mind your manners." Heero sat up at that point and eyed Harry critically as best he could in the darkness. "You're still looking awful pale; are you feeling any better after your nap?"

"I'm fine… just a little tired and sore… where are we anyway?" Harry replied as he shifted in Heero's arms as he opened his eyes and tried to sit up only to freeze and tense up as his eyes landed on Relena.

"Oh wow, Heero, your little brother has such gorgeous green eyes," Relena breathed as she smiled at Harry.

Heero tensed as he wasn't certain how Harry was going to react to that since he couldn't even warn the kid why he'd claimed they were brothers. Hoping to avoid any complications and prevent Harry from accidentally revealing that Heero had lied about their names or their non-existent status as family; Heero quickly introduced Harry to the other teen, "Relena, as I mentioned earlier, this is my little brother; James Black. James, meet Relena Darlian; she was lending us a hand after we crashed the party she was attending when things got a bit troublesome and she ended up in a bit of a bind so I gave her a hand only for all three of us to get caught up in a bit of a mess. So, we're going to have to sit tight for a while until we can find a way out."

Heero nearly cringed when he saw Harry's eyes narrow as the pint-sized teen glanced up at him briefly before he shocked Heero by giving their companion a shy smile as he timidly murmured, "Hi, Miss Darlian, ma'am; it's nice to meet you."

"My goodness, aren't you just the sweetest little boy I've ever met," Relena cooed and Heero worried that Harry was going to lash out when he felt Harry flinch and heard the soft growl he let out in response to both Relena's tone and her words. "But please call me Relena."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry replied as he shifted his arm.

Heero jumped a second later when a red light engulfed Relena and the girl slumped over against him. Harry then elbowed Heero hard in the stomach (to get Heero to release him) before he shifted so he was no longer sitting on the pilot's lap.

"Where in the hell are we, Heero?" Harry demanded heatedly.

"Buried beneath what used to be a school," Heero replied in a clipped tone over Harry's abrupt change in attitude. "What did you do to Miss Darlian?"

"I knocked her out because she reminded me of some of my more annoying fan-girls. She'll wake up in about two hours," Harry explained in an annoyed tone of voice. "Can you budge over and give me some room? I'm going to need a couple of potions if you expect me to be of any use. What exactly happened, anyway?"

"Nothing too terribly exciting; after our rough landing you passed out and I carried you. We ended up stumbling upon the school and Miss Darlian took pity on us because I told her we got lost in the forest after we ran out of gas. She was leading me to a place where I could let you rest for a bit when OZ tried to assassinate her and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time in order to save her and they dropped the building on us. I've already let Maxwell and the others know we're fine but in a bit of a tight spot and that OZ troops are probably hanging around in the area to make certain they finished her off."

"Joy… talk about being stuck between a rock and hard place," Harry muttered as he enlarged the suitcase he pulled out of his pocket to about one-fifth of its normal size and stuck his head inside before pulling out and cursing. "Wrong damn trunk; why couldn't you have gotten me ones that didn't all look exactly the same, Padfoot!?"

The process and the verbal curse were repeated a second time as the second trunk he brought out was still not the one he needed. Third time's the charm though, as Harry pulled out the final trunk and quickly disappeared inside. He came back up a few minutes later with his ears still slightly smoking and carrying an empty duffel bag that he tossed to Heero for the five mobile suits they'd been dragging around with them. Harry then switched out the trunks in order to retrieve several bottles of water, a few bags of chips, several apples, and a couple of sandwiches (that had been hastily thrown together) from the kitchen trunk and passed the lot to Heero before putting away the trunk.

Heero then watched as Harry took his first good look around their current lodging and Heero wondered at the look of distaste and disgust that crossed the smaller teen's face. He almost expected the kid to say something but instead he simply grabbed half a sandwich and nibbled his way through the rather unimaginative meal. As he ate, Harry tapped his wand against the dusty floor they were sitting on as he stared continuously at the precarious position of the debris that had fallen around the doorway they were trapped beneath.

"You think it would be safe to dig our way out, Heero?"

"No, if we shift anything, everything on top of it will fall and I already checked for places big enough for us to squeeze through but couldn't find any that went anywhere."

"Not up, down," Harry countered as he once again tapped the ground with his wand for emphasis. "I can make us a tunnel out of here unless you think there's a chance it would bring the rest of the debris down around our ears. If that's the case, I can at least make us a place to hide so that OZ doesn't find us."

"What about when Miss Darlian wakes? How would we explain it to her?"

"I brought up a sleeping draught that you can give to her that would keep her out for up to twelve hours and we can later tell her she passed out due to a lack of oxygen so she doesn't know what I did. I could alter her memory so she forgets ever meeting us as well but I've never done it before so I might mess up and I… I don't think it's right. I don't think I could do to her what they did to me."

"Are you sure it's safe for you to dig a tunnel after exhausting yourself earlier? How are you feeling anyway? And don't just say you're fine this time, please."

"So long as I don't throw so much power into the spell, I'll be fine. I'm not tired any more, the potions washed away the exhaustion already and the nap I had while you carried me helped a lot; I'm guessing I was out for at least a couple hours. I don't think I could face another robot… I…" Harry replied only to trail off suddenly as he stiffened and let out a tortured whine before he abruptly vomited up the sandwich he'd eaten before backing away from his mess as he stared up at Heero with wide panicked eyes as his face turned ashen. "I killed them… I never once stopped to think… I didn't even give them a chance… I just blew them up…"

Seeing that he was slipping into a full blown panic attack, Heero leaned forward as he held Harry's gaze and began speaking softly, "Do you remember what we talked about earlier? About war and death? You saved both of our lives tonight, Harry; you did nothing wrong. Think about this… the people those pilots worked for sent more people to this school tonight to murder the young lady sleeping off your spell and they destroyed an entire school and killed who knows how many other _children_ just because she witnessed something they didn't want anyone to see. Do you really think people like that should be allowed to get away with what they've done?"

"I… I don't know. What about their families? What about any family they had? Was it fair to them to that I took away their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles, and sons?"

"No it wasn't fair and their families will grieve for their loss but at the same time, it was those pilots' choices that put them in that position in the first place; they and their families were aware of what they were doing and the risks they were facing in the line of duty. Most of them were grown men and women who accepted the responsibility and knew what fighting in a war meant. You are not to blame for their decisions or for the decisions that their superior officers made when giving out the orders them to attack us. They could have tried capturing us instead of simply trying to kill us. They fired the first shot; you simply did what you had to do to save us. I don't think you're a monster for protecting us."

Heero watched as Harry nodded jerkily before scrubbing at the tears that had slipped down his face. He watched the kid then vanish the mess he made before he sat there still looking rather dejected and Heero surmised that even though he accepted Heero's words, the kid was still having trouble coping with the first lives he'd intentionally taken. It made Heero think back to his own first kill and how he'd felt afterwards before his thoughts turned even further back and he recalled the little girl that had been unintentionally caught up in an explosion he'd set and he clenched his fists at the old pain before he shoved it out of his mind.

Focusing on Harry once more, Heero noticed that the kid had once again curled in on himself and Heero called himself a sentimental fool even as he reached out and gathered Harry into his arms. It was a testament to just how troubled Harry was feeling when the rather standoffish kid didn't even put up a fight. In fact, after a few minutes, Harry began clinging to the taller teen as he pressed his face against Heero's shoulder and shook with silent sobs. Awkwardly, Heero patted the pint-sized teen's back in an effort to offer him a measure of comfort and prove that he didn't find him repulsive for doing what he'd done.

As he glanced down, Heero couldn't help but think that Harry was acting like the child he appeared to be for the first (or possibly second) time even if he was mentally a year or two older than the rest of them. Nearly an hour later, Harry sat up and extracted himself from Heero's arms as scrubbed at his face again before he murmured a soft apology before cleaning Heero's shirt with his wand. Heero merely ruffled Harry's hair causing the wizard to half glare and pout up at him which made Heero chuckle. Harry huffed but for once didn't make any comments. After a minute, Harry pulled a potion vial out of his pocket and passed it to Heero.

"You need to give half of that to her before she wakes up. We can give her the rest in six hours if we need to," Harry explained in a weary voice. "I'm going to box the two of you in so I can start on the tunnel."

Harry then suited actions to words before Heero could say anything and the Gundam pilot soon found himself in a small room made from the debris around them. Through the wall, he could hear a steady stream of muted concussions as Harry used a far weaker version of the gouging spell to tunnel his way through the floor, lower foundations, and the ground as he felt the floor shaking in time to the blasts. After several minutes, the vibrations became softer and softer, telling Heero that Harry was making steady progress. Hoping the kid wouldn't do himself any harm, Heero glanced at the potion in his hand and then at the young girl sprawled on the floor beside him before he sighed and gathered her into his arms so he could sit her up and feed her the potion a few sips at a time.

Once he'd gotten roughly half of the potion into her, he washed it down with a bit of water so as to get rid of the taste as he was certain the potion tasted nearly as bad as it smelled. He then laid her back down on the ground and carefully dug the phone out of her pocket before digging through her purse to find anything that would let him know where exactly they had ended up. He ended up finding both her school ID and an invitation to the school dance that the school had been holding before the suits had crashed the party. Sitting back, he hit redial to call Duo back and waited for the other pilot to pick up.

"_That ya again, Hee-man?_"

"Yeah, it's me, Maxwell. Listen, Harry's working on digging us a tunnel out of here but I don't know how long it's going to take. I need you guys to research everything you can on the terrorist attack that killed the Vice-Foreign-Minister about a week ago; pay close attention to anything you can dig up about his daughter, Relena Darlian. OZ tried to assassinate her tonight and after saving her life we got buried alive when they blew up the school where she was attending a dance. The school in question is St. Gabriel Academy. I also need to know who is hanging about above ground, what the news is saying about the attack, and who they are trying to blame."

"_Damn… when ya go lookin' for trouble, ya certainly know how ta end up neck high in it; don't ya?_"

"You don't know the half of it, Maxwell. I'd have called you back sooner when Harry first woke back up and put our damsel in distress into a magical slumber but he completely flipped out the moment he realized he'd killed the pilots of the suits that were attacking us. Warn Winner, will you? I talked with him about it a bit and he had a good cry but I think it's going to be a long time before he gets over it and I doubt he'd take too kindly to me forcing him to talk about it given how he feels about me."

"_Will do. Call me back in about an hour and I'll have everything ya asked for,_" Duo replied before cutting the connection.

Snapping the phone shut, Heero took the time to put everything back so that Relena wouldn't know he'd been snooping before he sat back to wait the requested hour as he wondered how far Harry had gotten on the tunnel.

* * *

**AN:** _I sat on this chapter a bit longer than I intended as I am not quite happy with the above ground fight sequence where the motorcycle is damaged but my head is too stuffed up right now to smooth it out any more than I have. My youngest was ever so kind to share her flu/cold bug with me and I've spent most of the past three to four days in bed sleeping to avoid the suffering. I may come back to this chapter and fix that section later but for now I'll leave it stand as is. Don't know when I'll have the next chapter up because the issues I mentioned in previous chapter notes haven't ran their course as of yet. I'll try not to take too long though._

_Anyway onto the important chapter comments; the precocious pink princess has finally made an entrance! Introducing Relena was a chore and a half because I didn't want her to end up as obsessed with Heero as she had been in canon but at the same time I still wanted to give her a reason to have a crush on her personal hero. Harry's also having trouble knowing how to deal with Heero; bouncing between apathy, outright anger, and confusion since Heero isn't behaving as expected. We also saw a small fraction of the power Harry is capable of wielding when the need arises; though as Heero had noted, he's not yet fully recovered from his illness. _

_Next chapter will deal with the aftermath of Harry's run on his seaside cave and the failed assassination attempt before slipping into the New Edwards Base arc from the GW verse. We'll also see Harry's thoughts and impressions of Relena and his third meeting with Trowa. ~ Jenn_


	14. True Colors

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 13: True Colors

Eight hours after having a building dropped on their heads, Heero, Harry, and Relena were tucked into the back of a pink limousine cruising towards the airport. Heero was worried that they would be spotted (I mean come on, really, a _pink _limo!?) but surprisingly no one had followed them and according to the world Relena Darlian had died in a tragic terrorist bombing just like her father (along with at least twenty-five other unnamed teenagers). That grated on Heero's nerves but there was really nothing he could do about it at the moment.

Half sprawled across Heero's lap, Harry was once again sleeping off his exhaustion; the young wizard having tunneled through over two hundred feet of dirt, rock, and concrete in order to get them out of their death trap and away from the search crews that were digging out those that had been trapped inside when the building fell. Heero had then used Relena's phone to contact her driver and let him know that they had found a way out and they needed to get away before someone saw Relena. To explain the unresponsive state of both Relena and Harry, the blue eyed teen had used Harry's earlier excuse of having passed out due to a lack of oxygen while they'd been digging their way out since he couldn't exactly tell the man the truth.

Sighing, Heero dropped his head back against the seat cushion and closed his eyes as he felt his own exhaustion washing over him after the rather stressful night. He eventually dozed off until he felt the car slow to a stop and he sat up to find they were at the airport. They were soon sitting on a private jet as they traveled to one of the Darlian's less known estates in South America.

Heero didn't like jumping halfway around the world just so he could turn around and jump half way back again in order to get him and Harry back to the Winner Estate but he had no choice at the moment; unless it was stay in Japan to wait until one of the others could collect them and risk getting caught (something the pilot wanted to avoid). Howard, Duo's main contact on Earth, would be picking them up in his salvage barge two days after they arrived in South America and he'd drop them off at the mouth of the Nile in Egypt where the Maganac Corps would pick them up and take them back to the Winner Estate.

Shaking off the maudlin thoughts, Heero turned to watch over the pint-sized teen as he slept on oblivious to the latest twist in their current predicament.

* * *

Harry stood on the edge of the bow of Howard's salvage barge as it cut across the Atlantic Ocean. He'd been feeling rather numb and detached since he woke up shortly before Relena's jet had landed in Northern Brazil except during the nights when his dreams were haunted by an endless cycle of vicious nightmares. In all that time, he hadn't actually spoken a single word to anyone except for Heero and that was only when he was alone with the teen and only because Heero usually got frustrated and ended up ordering him to respond verbally. Even then he didn't say much beyond what was necessary to follow the order.

Relena had been sad to see the two of them leave two days after they arrived but Harry was happy to be away from her as she periodically displayed what Harry saw as fan-girl type behavior around Heero; meaning the girl had a major crush on the blue-eyed pilot and often acted like an airhead when in the same room as the pilot. Harry did not have any fond memories of fan-girls. He was at least thankful that she focused her attention on the taller teen, since he didn't think he'd have been able to stop himself from hexing the snot out of her if she'd attempted to latch onto him the way she latched onto Heero every once in a while. He couldn't understand why the pilot tolerated the behavior but chalked it up to the other teen just being weirder than usual.

Trading a large mansion and a harmless (if annoying) fan-girl for a salvage barge crewed by a dozen burly men hadn't really been a welcome change in the end though. The fact that he'd basically be stuck on the boat with said men for a minimum of two weeks in addition to having to put up with Heero constantly watching him like a hawk only made matters worse. The green eyed wizard had felt trapped and hunted the moment he stepped aboard the salvage ship as the crew took an immediate interest in him (most of them seeing him as a child that needed to be entertained or kept out of trouble). The first two days aboard the barge had been particularly trying as the adults had constantly tried to draw him out of his shell.

The constant attention had set him on edge until it got to the point where he'd fall into a defensive stance and reach for his wand or flinch any time the adults on board glanced his way or attempted to approach him. On the third day aboard the barge the unwanted attention he had been receiving abruptly stopped for no apparent reason (Harry completely unaware that Heero had spoken the crew and asked them to ignore the pint-sized teen after explaining that Harry been treated poorly in the past without giving them any details). The moment it appeared that the crew had lost all interest in his presence, Harry's earlier emotional numbness returned; though he'd still recoil away from any of the adults if they got too close to him or if he happened to catch their eye in passing.

The only solace Harry found over the course of their voyage during the six days following those first few days was in the endless expanse of sky and sea that surrounded the barge as it reminded him poignantly of flying. He spent close to eighty percent of that time precariously perched on the railing of the bow staring out over the vast ocean as the water and wind tugged at his hair as they plowed through the rising and falling swells of water. The rest of the time he spent trying to sleep, picking at the food Heero brought him, and covertly monitoring the other individuals on the barge in order to prevent any of them from sneaking up on him.

"You should be able to spot land in another two more days as we pass close to the African Coast on our way to the Mediterranean Sea," Heero announced as he walked up to stand at the rail just a few feet away from where Harry was perched. "So long as the weather remains clear we can expect to reach Egypt in five or six day's time. Are you looking forward to having solid ground beneath your feet again?"

Harry studiously ignored Heero's latest attempt to draw him into a conversation; not even providing any indication that he'd heard the other teen speak. Any further attempts to break through the apathy that had enshrouded Harry in the wake of the near disastrous retrieval of his things and the foiled assassination were placed on hold as Howard approached Heero with the news that the pilot had an urgent call from Duo. Harry tensed and snapped his head around to watch Heero trot off with the older man towards the helm to take the call; a sinking feeling building in his stomach and piercing his earlier numbness as the niggling suspicion that trouble was brewing began to form in his mind.

His fears were confirmed less than ten minutes later, when the barge began angling around so that they were now heading south-east instead of north-east as they had been. Terrible images of mobile suits assaulting the barge flashed through Harry's mind briefly and the detachment he'd been feeling lifted partially as memories of the fight that had taken place in the air over his cave came rushing back. Harry nearly fell overboard as a sudden bout of nausea followed by a wave of dizziness hit him in the wake of the reminder of the lives he'd taken that night.

Dropping down to the deck, Harry curled up and held his head as he waited for his sense of balance to return. He'd been sitting there for nearly fifteen minutes when a shadow fell over him and he looked up to find a grim faced Heero staring down at him with concern. Scrambling up onto his feet, Harry staggered once from the slight sense of vertigo he felt from rising too fast. Grabbing hold of the railing, Harry shook of the feeling before he returned his gaze to the pilot and waited for Heero to tell him what was going on.

"There's been a slight change in plans," Heero began after studying Harry critically for a few moments before he paused and glanced out over the ocean.

"You have a mission," Harry stated in a flat voice that was rough from disuse; drawing Heero's attention back to him and Harry imagined the other teen hadn't expected him to say anything after the long days of prolonged silence.

"Yes. OZ is looking to use the Gundam pilots to assassinate several high placed Alliance officials and a handful of ambassadors from the colonies attending a peace conference at New Edwards Base in California. Originally, the mission called for us to eliminate a number of OZ officials that were supposed to be meeting at the base but the information leaked about the OZ meeting was nothing but a pack of lies to mislead us. Chang discovered the duplicity when he was researching the information all five of us received when we were all assigned the same mission from our contacts in the Colonies."

"You're looking to rescue the officials and ambassadors out from under OZ's nose and expose them for the traitors they are because if you don't show they will kill them anyway and blame you or the Colonies in some way," Harry stated knowingly as he turned away from Heero and stared out over the sea. "Just like they did after they blew up the school while trying to kill Relena Darlian. What is going to happen to me while the five of you are doing that?"

"You've got three options; you can stay here on the barge with Howard until we finish and can pick you up, you can catch a ride back to the Winner Estate with the Maganacs that are delivering my Gundam to me, or you can go with one of us providing you can keep your magic under control and not fry the suits."

"I don't want to be left alone with a bunch of strangers," Harry stated flatly after a moment.

"Then you have a choice of staying with me or going with Barton as Barton and his Gundam hitched a ride on the plane that is bringing me Wing."

"What about Quatre?" Harry asked, a part of him wishing for the comforting presence of the blonde pilot.

"Winner is already in the States; as are Maxwell and Chang."

"Oh…"

"I realize you've been stuck with me for days on end now and will not be offended if you wish to fly with Barton or change your mind about tagging along for the mission. Barton might even be able to help you with your dizzy spells or whatever else is bothering you."

Harry shrugged, not really certain if he'd feel any more comfortable with the pilot he had spent the least amount of time with than he did with the pilot he disliked the most. Instead, he climbed back up onto the railing and simply sat there lost in thought as Heero wandered away and left him to his own devices. The rest of the day passed in a blur and before Harry knew it the sun was setting just as land was spotted directly ahead. Several hours later, Harry slipped down off the railing and headed towards the small cabin he'd been sharing with Heero in the hopes that he'd be able to get a good night's sleep for once.

It took him a long time to drift off to sleep though; his thoughts refusing to settle down at first and then once he did drop off, the nightmares that had been haunting his dreams since the night they raided his cave slid through the shadows of his mind. Harry was back on the bow of the barge before the sun rose, the smudges beneath his eyes darker than they'd been the night before; his mind empty and detached once more unlike the previous night when his thoughts had chased each other endlessly.

Near noon, the salvage ship dropped anchor off the coast of Africa and Howard took Harry and Heero ashore on the row boat that usually sat on the starboard side of the deck. Harry could see a small group of blurs that he assumed were people waiting for them on the beach and focused on them as best he could for a few minutes before he swung around to stare back out over the water. A small part of him would miss the sea but he wasn't exactly sad to be off of the barge or to be saying goodbye to the rather odd man that captained the boat.

Actually stepping onto shore turned out to be a tad more difficult than anticipated as he stumbled when an incoming wave overbalanced him and he ended up being washed up onto the shore which reminded him poignantly of the day he'd first woken up in this world. The memory of that long ago day actually cut through the last of numbness that he'd been feeling for so long and Harry began cussing and cursing as he coughed up salt water and crawled the rest of the way out of the water. He was helped to his feet a split second later by a smirking Heero and Harry couldn't resist kicking the taller teen in the ankle out of spite.

Cold, wet, covered in sand, and exhausted; Harry was not in the mood to be laughed at because of a moment of clumsiness that was the fault of his reduced stature. He stalked away from the now wincing Heero in order to move himself clear of the tide line; his entire body shivering as the cutting wind chilled him to the bone through his sopping wet clothes. A warm, dry blanket being draped around his shoulders made Harry jump unexpectedly and he whipped around to find a familiar green eyed teen standing over him.

"Thanks," Harry murmured as he pulled the blanket close, wishing there weren't so many people around so he could use his wand to clean and dry his clothes; the young wizard still uncomfortable using his magic in front of strangers.

"We set up camp not too far from here," Trowa announced as he gave Harry a critical once over. "You can get cleaned up and changed into dry clothes there in addition to getting some sleep before we fly out."

Harry shivered a second time and this time the wind had nothing to do with it as he recalled the nightmares that had filled his dreams lately; he had no desire to revisit those dreams any time soon. Still the prospect of being warm once more did appeal to him so he allowed Trowa to lead him back to their camp. They ended up walking further than Harry expected and they hadn't even covered half of the distance when his legs began burning from the strain of the long march on top of the lack of proper sleep, a poor diet, and the week and a half of inactivity.

The moment he began staggering due to the pain and exhaustion, Heero scooped him up off his feet and he briefly considered demanding to be put down until common sense asserted itself and he simply crossed his arms and scowled as he held himself stiffly in Heero's arms. When they reached camp, Harry was carried to a tent that was sitting off to one side before Heero finally set him back on his feet and told to get changed. Harry nodded absently as he limped through the tent flap while he dug into his pocket for his trunks.

He took a few minutes to restore all three trunks (his old school trunk and Moody's seven compartment trunk both permanently stored in his supply trunk and his money trunk back at the Winner Estate in the box that held the rest of his belongings) and determine which one was which. Harry then dug into his pocket to retrieve his shrunken broom and set it down behind the trunks (where it would be stepped on) before he climbed down into his supply trunk after a quick scan of the tent and a long glance towards the doorway of the tent to confirm he was completely alone. Once inside, he wasted no time in shedding the cold wet clothes he'd been wearing before slipping into a clean pair of pants, a loose shirt, and a warm jumper.

The wet clothes he'd been wearing were then piled off to one side so he could clean them later when he wasn't feeling quite so tired. After that, he made his way over to the shelves housing the health related potions and pulled down a general healing draught, a weak pain relieving potion, and a vial of Pepper-Up Potion that he mechanically drank down in order to wash away the lingering ache in his legs and the fatigue he was feeling.

While he waited for the potions to start working, he gathered up another couple of changes of clothes, two large rolls of parchment, a pack of unopened quills, a couple bottles of ink, the deck of cards Quatre had given him the day they headed off to Japan, and a sleeping bag that he packed into medium sized duffel bag. Unable to think of anything else he might need that he couldn't dig out later, Harry climbed out of the trunk at that point and practically ran into Trowa and Heero who'd both been standing in front of the trunk.

"Where did the suitcases come from and why were you hiding inside that one?"

"I was changing, not hiding," Harry corrected absently as he warily glanced between the two teens since they were both staring at him intently.

"Relax," Heero chided when he saw the look on Harry's face.

"Can't… you two are up to something," Harry shot back with a slight frown as he glanced over to Trowa as the memory of the last time he'd seen the taller green eyed teen surfaced. "You're not here just to give me another shot are you?"

"No," Trowa replied with a shake of his head and the slightest upturning of the corner of his mouth giving the impression he was amused by the question. "Everything I need to test your blood is back at the estate and I'll only need to administer the immunizations if it becomes apparent that you never received them. I wouldn't risk giving them to you before a mission regardless though because of the slight chance of you having a negative reaction to the vaccines."

"We're here to discuss what you're going to be doing during the mission," Heero revealed as he sat down on one of the two camp beds set up in the tent.

"I have to go with one of you and no using magic near the Gundams."

"Close. You could go back to the Winner Estate with Abdul and just relax," Trowa pointed out.

Harry shook his head even as he repeated, "I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of strangers."

"Which is why you need to decide which one of us you will be going with," Trowa stated with a nod. "Yuy had already explained your decision to me while you were changing but I wanted to confirm that was what you still wished to do. We also need to figure out what you will be doing throughout the duration of the mission since we'd rather not have you bored."

"Can you tell me what exactly the mission going to entail?" Harry asked tentatively. "I mean, I know what Heero said the mission was supposed to be but he said it was a trick and that you were going to save people instead of kill them. All you have to do is get those people out, right?"

"It will be a bit more complicated than that," Heero corrected as he eyed Harry critically. "Though you are correct in that we will basically be doing our best to make certain those that OZ is trying to assassinate aren't killed; which means we will at some point end up fighting."

"Oh…"

"The conference will be taking place in about twelve days," Trowa further explained. "Two of us are going to sneak onto the base before the majority of the delegates arrive so that we will be in a position to safely evacuate them when the time comes. We will also be sabotaging the base's defenses and secretly planting explosives throughout the facility."

"And you can't take me into the base because a kid doesn't belong anywhere near the base," Harry surmised as he dropped down to sit on the lid of his supply trunk.

"Which means you'll be virtually alone for an indeterminate amount of time or you'll have to go with one of those who aren't sneaking into the base."

"Precisely," Heero confirmed with a nod. "Chang, Winner, and I will be in our Gundams playing decoy while Barton and Maxwell infiltrate the base and chances are those of us in suits will be attacked at some point during the mission."

Harry stared at Heero with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights-look as he saw again the mobile suits he'd destroyed flashing through his mind. He pressed one hand over his mouth and the other over his stomach as he felt his insides twist sharply in response and it took all of his willpower not to throw up the little bit of food he'd managed to choke down for breakfast earlier that morning. Closing his eyes, he shook his head back and forth to clear away the terrible memories of that long ago night before taking a few deep breaths to quell the queasiness in his stomach.

"I'll leave you two to work out the details of how you're going to proceed," Heero quietly stated after a few minutes as he studied Harry critically. The brunette then turned to leave, pausing briefly once he reached the tent flap so he could glance back at Harry as he ordered, "Harry, you will need to cooperate with both Barton and Maxwell for the duration of the mission. That means that you will need to obey them as you would obey me until the mission has been completed."

Harry opened his eyes in surprise and watched Heero go with mixed feelings before he turned and gave his full attention to Trowa who was watching him with concern. The green-eyed teen then quietly stated, "It's not too late to chose to go to the estate instead, Harry."

"I don't trust them," Harry whispered as he dropped his hands into his lap (his fingers automatically tangling themselves in the hem of his shirt) and lowered his gaze to the ground. "Not that I really trust any of you but better the evil you know… not that I think you are evil. I just…"

"I think I understand. Come on; let's go introduce you to Heavyarms so you can familiarize yourself with what not to touch while you're in the suit later. That and I can show you how to activate the external sensors and the communication system in case you have to get in touch with one of us during the mission. We can also discuss what else you can do to keep yourself occupied for the duration of the mission."

Harry dutifully followed the green eyed pilot, weaving through the camp towards where a cargo plane was sitting half hidden beneath a huge beige and green cargo net. They ducked beneath the net, climbed in through the open cargo bay door, and headed for the mostly red and white Gundam. Harry couldn't help but sneak a glance at Heero's familiar white, blue, and red Gundam as they walked between the two suits before he studied the Gundam named Heavyarms. He couldn't help but notice that Trowa's Gundam wasn't as sleek in design as Heero's suit; making the large suit look far more intimidating than Wing. As they reached the torso of the machine, Harry watched as Trowa effortlessly pulled himself up onto the suit.

Recalling the cold alien and hateful feel of the other suits he'd come into contact with, not counting Heero's Gundam, Harry hesitantly reached out and brushed his fingertips against Heavyarms' side. Despite the cold metal beneath his fingers, Harry could feel the same warmth coming from Heavyarms that had radiated from Wing and he unconsciously pressed his hand flat against the suit in an effort to hold onto the feeling of security that the suit was giving off. As he stared at his hand sitting on the suit, a part of Harry couldn't help but wonder why the Gundams felt so different when compared to the other suits he'd dealt with in passing.

"Do you need a hand up, Harry?"

Startled out of his contemplation, Harry glanced up to see Trowa crouching on the edge of the suit's chest and he took a minute to take in just how far up the top of the chest was when compared to his current height and Harry pursed his lips in annoyance. He huffed a moment later and reached up with both hands in an unspoken supplication as he muttered, "I hate being short."

Trowa gave another one of his almost smiles as he leaned down and obligingly hauled Harry up onto the Gundam. The moment his feet touched down again, Harry scampered away from the teen and took a moment to take in the orange and yellow accents scattered about amidst the red and white armor of the giant robot before he crept up to take a closer look at the head and face of the machine (this being his first chance to really study any of the Gundams up close). He then glanced down to take in the huge gun that the suit had in place of a left arm and swallowed hard as he was abruptly reminded that these suits were designed to kill.

Turning away from the gun and the terrible memories it stirred, Harry found Trowa watching him and he slowly crossed the chest once more so he was standing just a few feet away from the teen. Peering down through the open door, Harry noticed immediately that there was only one chair that took up most of the room in the cockpit. Surrounding the chair on three sides were several large monitors and a slew of gauges, buttons, levers, and other devices that Harry couldn't even name. It looked far more complicated than anything Harry had ever seen and at the same time reminded him of some of the futuristic shows and movies Dudley used to watch.

"Here, I'll help you down," Trowa offered when Harry finally glanced back up from his inspection. "You can step on the chair and then climb off to the left; there's nothing on the back wall on that side that will break or activate anything should you step on it."

Harry grudgingly accepted the hand Trowa held out for him and was soon standing on the back rest of the pilot's chair. He allowed himself to glance around once before scrambling off to the left as requested so Trowa could drop down after him. Harry watched as the younger boy confidently twisted around in mid-air as he settled into the chair so that he was sitting down properly before he flipped the switch that controlled the door.

Harry felt a thread of nervous fear snake through him as the door swung shut, effectively locking him inside of the cockpit with Trowa, and he unconsciously let out a strangled whimper. At the same time he shifted himself back as far away from Trowa as he could safely get without accidentally stepping on anything. The brief moment of darkness reminded him of his cupboard under the stairs but that feeling vanished the moment the moment the suit came alive; and there was no other way to describe what happened the moment Trowa engaged the systems.

Where his feet touched the wall, Harry could feel a soft thrum as the small cockpit was filled with light from the many different screens that were currently displaying different images rather than showing the visual feeds from the external cameras like they normally would. One depicted the inside of the cargo bay, one showed a small section of the African Coast (the satellite feed of their current location), another had a map of the United States with three red lines labeled Maxwell, Chang, and Winner marking their current courses, one showed what appeared to be a newscast, and yet another displayed a bunch of technical jargon that Harry couldn't even begin to decipher.

Harry took another step backwards and unexpectedly bumped into the raised panels that covered the ceiling, nearly tripping over one section as he threw his hands out and back to steady himself. The moment his hands came into contact with the cool metal the feeling of warmth he'd felt when he'd touched the suit earlier washed over him stronger than ever and Harry gasped softly at the unexpected sensation. He couldn't help but compare the soothing and comforting warmth that the Gundam generated with the uplifting and reassuring song of a phoenix.

"Is there something wrong, Harry?"

"No," Harry automatically replied as he jumped a bit; the not quite seventeen year old having forgotten the other teen was in there with him the moment he'd felt the wave of warmth from the suit washing over and through him.

"Well, if you are certain. Why don't you move up a bit so you have a clear view of the various systems while I explain the basic function of each one; so you will know which ones you might need to use and which ones you want to avoid at all costs."

They spent an hour inside of the cockpit with Trowa patiently teaching Harry just enough about how his Gundam worked for Harry to move about in the tiny cockpit without accidentally activating the various weapons or worse the self-destruct mechanism. Another hour was spent fashioning and installing a seat and safety harness for Harry to sit on during their journey. It was nothing fancy, just a slightly curved twelve inch by seven inch section of metal welded onto the back wall behind the pilot's chair with the straps of the safety harness bolted directly to the wall above makeshift seat.

To make the seat a little more comfortable, Trowa had allowed Harry to add a cushioning charm for comfort and a weak sticking charm that would help him stay in place should they run into any turbulence. Both spells had been cast upon the seat prior to installation after hauling the small scrap of metal a good twenty yards away from the camp to prevent his magic from interfering with either the Gundams or the plane's circuitry. Once cast, the magic in the spells would not extend past the metal they were anchored to, so there was no reason to worry about the spells affecting any of the inner circuitry of the Gundam.

Harry had then been given an early supper (which he only picked at halfheartedly) before being led back to the tent he'd used earlier where he was instructed to remove his shirt so Trowa could check on his injuries. Harry tried to get out of the impromptu check up by letting Trowa know his injuries were long since healed but the taller teen refused to just take Harry's word for it. The sight of Harry's virtually unblemished back and side (bar the scars he'd acquired during his first fourteen years) shocked the pilot as he'd fully expected Harry's injuries to have scarred given how severe they had been in combination with the infection that had set in shortly after he'd fallen ill. The healing cream that Harry had used the first couple of days after he'd been injured had prevented the wounds from scarring though, for which Harry was eternally grateful; he had more than enough scars already.

After that, Harry spent about an hour hunting through the large library Sirius had put together for him in order to gather the books he would need to decipher the notes Sirius had given him on the enchanted motorcycle. He also picked up a couple of spell books he wanted to skim through for a few useful spells so he'd have something to occupy himself with during the upcoming mission. He tucked the books and Sirius's notes in the duffel bag holding the things he'd packed earlier before digging into his trunk of food to grab a few bottles of butterbeer, a few snacks, and some fresh fruit.

He then shrunk the three trunks and returned them to his pocket along with his Firebolt. Heero turned up at that point and told Harry to get some sleep until it was time for them to leave.

Harry would spend the hours before they left Africa and the majority of the long flight over the Atlantic Ocean sleeping fitfully as his dreams were still troubled by nightmares each time he closed his eyes despite how tired he felt. The few hours of uninterrupted sleep that he did manage to get (both while still in Africa and during the flight) hadn't actually helped; the short, broken naps leaving him feeling even more exhausted and feeling rather drained.

Once they were flying over the United States, Harry watched Heero climb into his Gundam and drop out of the back of the cargo bay (in order to meet up with Wufei and Quatre) with mixed feelings. Trowa and Harry in the mean time were due to meet Duo in Nevada in another eight hours to do the same before the three of them would sneak into California. When it was their turn to go, Harry sluggishly followed Trowa and silently allowed the taller teen to help him up onto the chest of the mobile suit once more.

Harry then jumped down into the cockpit with far less trepidation than he had felt that first time he stepped inside the Gundam and quickly slipped off the chair and settled into his makeshift seat before buckling the safety harness into place. Trowa leaned around the chair a minute later to test the straps and make certain they were secure (much to Harry's embarrassment) before he strapped himself in and fired up the suit. Harry sighed softly as he pressed both hands to the wall behind him and allowed the intangible warmth of the suit wash over him and before they even dropped out of the cargo plane, Harry had drifted off to sleep.

He woke up sometime later feeling refreshed for the first time in days after the long and surprisingly nightmare free nap. Glancing about, the first thing he noticed was that everything inside of the cockpit was off and that the warmth radiating from the Gundam suit was once again muted. The next thing he noticed was that Trowa wasn't inside and the cockpit door was open. Unbuckling his harness, Harry crept forward until he could hear voices floating up from somewhere below and he cautiously stuck his head out to see two people seated beside a camp fire a short distance away with their backs to the Gundam.

A brief glance around the dark rocky canyon they were in turned up a familiar second Gundam and Harry surmised that it was Trowa and Duo sitting down by the fire. Relaxing now that he knew nothing had gone wrong, at least as far as he could tell, Harry turned his attention to his current predicament; finding a way down as he was currently stuck in the cockpit of the Gundam with no idea how to get down and the distance between the cockpit and the ground too far for him to just jump. After looking about for several minutes, Harry sighed in mild frustration as that was one topic that had not been covered in Trowa's brief tutorial and his broom was currently still in its shrunken state (which he couldn't fix while sitting in the unwarded Gundam).

He considered calling down to the two pilots to ask for help but he wasn't certain it was wise to disturb the teens when it appeared they were having an important discussion. Instead, he simply sat down on the short ramp sticking out of the cockpit with one foot dangling over the side as he leaned against the side of the doorway so he could stare up at the starry sky while he waited for one of them to notice him. After sitting there for about an hour, Trowa suddenly appeared from below and Harry jumped in surprise, nearly slipping over the side of the ramp as his weight shifted.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to startle you; I didn't know you were already awake and I was just coming to check on you," Trowa stated once Harry had recovered from the near fall and moved away from the edge. "Any particular reason you didn't let us know you were awake?"

"You two were busy and it was nice to just sit and watch the stars for a while," Harry replied with a shrug as he eyed the cable that Trowa was holding onto.

"Ah, I see. You do know we wouldn't have been angry at you for interrupting right? We were just sharing a few stories, nothing too important. No matter, let's get you down so you can grab a bite to eat and go to the bathroom if you need to."

Getting down involved Harry riding piggyback on the taller teen (to Harry's discomfort) and he quickly dropped off the moment they reached the ground. Harry then slipped off behind the two suits to empty his bladder (out of sight of the other two) before he joined them at the fire where he was passed a plate of thick stew. He ate in silence for a few minutes while Duo got up to check the perimeter of their camp for any suspicious activity, leaving Harry with just Trowa for company.

"You look like you finally got a decent stretch of sleep," Trowa commented after a few minutes, making Harry pause mid-bite as he glanced warily over his plate to meet those green eyes that were so like and yet so unlike his.

"Heero told you about the nightmares."

"Yes, Yuy mentioned that you'd been having difficulty sleeping since the two of you left Japan and I couldn't help but notice how restless your sleep was before we broke camp in Africa and during our flight over the Atlantic. If you wish, I can give you a little something to help you sleep, so the nightmares won't bother you."

"I'll be fine," Harry stated as he shook his head and continued to nibble at his stew.

"Well, if I can't offer you something to help you sleep better, would you at least be willing to talk about your dreams? See if we can't lay some of your inner demons to rest?"

Harry sighed and set his plate down on the ground beside him before he turned his eyes to the fire, watching the individual flames dance wildly across the logs. After several long minutes of silence that Harry spent lost in thought, he softly asked, "Why? You don't even really know me; why would you care?"

"Because we see ourselves in ya," Duo answered as he appeared from out of the shadows behind Harry, making the pint sized teen whip around in fright before relaxing the moment he caught sight of Duo. "We look at ya and we see our own difficult childhoods and we want ta help ya because we all know how hard it is bein' on your own. Except maybe Quatre but our little Kumquat is a special case because he's all heart."

"We also need you to be strong and clear headed if you insist on tagging along with us during missions," Trowa pointed out. "A split second's inattention at the wrong moment could get any one of us killed or captured."

"If it ya think it might help, we can find something ta occupy your hands with while ya talk, that way ya don't actually have ta think about what you're talkin' about," Duo offered. "I can teach ya how ta pick a lock if ya want."

"I already know how to pick locks; both with and without magic," Harry absently replied as he glanced back and forth between the two teens. "The twins taught me how after they rescued me from my relatives' house just before my second year at Hogwarts. You actually remind me of them sometimes, Duo. They were always laughing, telling jokes, playing pranks, and always inventing new things."

"Sounds like a couple of great kids ta know."

"Their parents were paid to encourage their children to make friends with me; paid with money that was stolen from my dead parents," Harry countered in a dead voice. "They pretended to treat me like family when in truth they were nothing more than leeches that were bleeding me dry. It's not that I even care about the money… it just hurts to know that none of it was real to them while it meant the world to me because I thought I'd found something special."

"Okay, maybe not so great but how do ya know all of da kids were in on da deal?"

"I don't… but I don't know that they weren't either."

"Ya know ya could always just focus on da good times ya shared with them and forget da rest of da mess since ya don't know da full truth. Ya wouldn't want ta tarnish their memories if they weren't what ya feared; would ya?"

"I try… but sometimes it just hurts too much; even after all this time."

Silence fell over the trio as Harry picked up his plate and played with the remains of his meal; no longer feeling all that hungry. Eventually, Duo relieved him of the plate when it became obvious he wasn't going to finish and Harry sighed as he pulled up his legs and propped his chin on his knees as he stared moodily at the fire.

"Here, sit back a bit," Trowa instructed as he stood up and walked around the fire carrying a wooden case he'd just dug out of the pack that had been sitting on the ground beside him. "Maxwell had a good idea and since we have the time there's no reason not to start your training. What do you know about knives?"

"They're sharp and useful."

"Do you know how to care for a blade? How to sharpen one? Or how to throw one? Can you fight with a knife or defend yourself against someone attacking you with one?" Trowa prompted while ignoring Harry's rather flippant answer.

"My aunt taught me how to take care of her kitchen knives and I think I'm half decent when it comes to cutting up fruits, vegetables, and potion ingredients but I've never thrown one or learned to fight with one. I am also intimately aware of just how much it hurts to be sliced open with a knife."

The looks on the faces of the two pilots turned grim as their eyes tracked Harry's left hand as he unconsciously clutched his right arm over the scar where Pettigrew had drawn the blood from him for Voldemort's rebirthing ritual (the two younger teens wrongly thinking that Harry had given himself that scar based upon his constant talk of death and how he'd worded his statement just now). A pained look crossed over his face as he dug his fingers into the hidden scar as he recalled how helpless he had felt at the time, tied to the headstone as he had been. He was pulled out of those dark memories by Trowa's voice a minute later and he dropped his hand away from his arm as he gave the teen his attention once more.

"So you know the basics of handling a knife; good. That makes my job just a little easier. In this box I have a set of throwing knives that I picked up for you while I was in France; they are very well balanced and extremely sharp. I want you to familiarize yourself with them because I'm going to teach you how to throw them."

Harry opened the wooden case that was handed to him to find a set of eight rather dark and plain blades nestled in a bed of red felt. The blades were long and slender and shaped like spear heads with black hilts that were nearly as thin as the blades and no cross guard. They were elegant in their simplicity and Harry settled the box on his lap as he lifted one of them out so he could inspect it. He found the blade to be a touch heavier than he expected but well balanced and that the edges were as sharp as Trowa had said they were after Harry tested the one edge with his thumb.

"Until I know you know how to handle them, I don't want you wearing them but once I'm certain that you aren't going to accidentally cut your own fingers off or drop one on your foot I'll give you the sheaths I bought for them and show you how to hide them in your clothes," Trowa explained as he lifted out another of the knives. "The first thing you need to know is how to hold the blade properly."

The handle of the blade fit into Harry's palm much like the handle of his wand and he actually felt far more at ease handling the knife than he had originally thought he would. Trowa picked up on that fact as well and set up a small log a few feet away and moved on to showing Harry how to properly throw the knives, telling him to focus on the feel of the knife as he threw it instead of worrying about hitting the target for the moment.

As he worked on learning to throw the knife, Harry tentatively began speaking of his nightmares after the third or fourth time Duo prompted him. With his mind fully occupied with what his hands were doing, Harry didn't even notice when he went from describing the nightmares he'd been having of the pilots he'd killed when he had destroyed the mobile suits to describing some of the nightmares he'd been having since he first woke up in their world (focusing on those he had of Voldemort's rebirth since they had been the most frequent of his nightmares over the past two years).

"Sometimes I really wish Sirius had never given me back my memories or that he could have taken away my memories of everything that had happened the night of the third task," Harry tiredly finished as he stood there close to two hours later staring at the quivering knife sticking out of the target log; his first successful throw.

"That last throw was perfect; do you remember how it felt when you threw it? See if you can do it a second time," Trowa encouraged as he passed another blade to Harry handle first; the teen purposefully not drawing attention to Harry's pained declaration.

Harry managed to hit the log another five times in a row though never twice in the same place. After that, Trowa set him to oiling the blades of the throwing knives while keeping a close eye on him to make certain he wasn't going to cut himself (either accidentally through inattention or intentionally because of his inner turmoil).

"How are ya feelin', kiddo?" Duo asked after a few minutes.

"I don't know; tired, I guess… and kinda numb again; though not quite as detached as I had been after I first woke up on Miss Darlian's pink plane."

"When you're finished taking care of your knives, you can grab your sleeping bag and sleep for another couple of hours; we won't be moving out until after sunset tomorrow."

It didn't take Harry long to finish oiling the knife blades and once he'd put the last one away he made to give the box back to Trowa only to be told they were his to keep. Harry awkwardly thanked the teen (not really used to receiving gifts outside of holidays and his birthday) and slipped the case into the duffel bag he'd packed with a few supplies before leaving Africa. He then pulled out his sleeping bag and set it up well away from both the fire and where he noticed the other two had set up their beds. It didn't take him long to fall asleep once he curled up inside of the sleeping bag and though his dreams were far from peaceful they were no where near as dark as they had been up until that point.

Harry rose the next morning long before sunrise; his body still out of sorts from the change of time zones and from his recent nightmare induced insomnia. He ignored Trowa, who was standing watch over their camp, and wandered off behind the Gundams to empty his bladder and change his clothes. He then spent the rest of the predawn darkness perched in the branches of a pine tree watching the stars fade out one by one.

Duo dragged him down out of the tree after the sunrise to eat breakfast and kept the diminutive wizard occupied for the rest of the morning by asking a slew of questions about Harry's magic; focusing specifically on wards. Trowa, in the mean time, hacked into the base's network and set up his and Duo's aliases in order to get the two of them onto the base without drawing unwanted attention to them. A task that was made more difficult than usual due to the base tightening security because of the fast approaching conference.

Lunch time saw Harry's second knife throwing lesson with Trowa while Duo spent a couple of hours up in Deathscythe hunting for the perfect hiding place to establish a base camp. It had to be a place that was not only far from prying eyes but one that was well protected by natural defenses and easily defended by a single person with a limited arsenal since Harry would be on his own for over a week. He also made arrangements for a military vehicle to be delivered to a remote location that wasn't too close or too far from the proposed base camp to use as transportation to get them onto base; the long haired pilot would pick up the jeep once they reached California and stashed their Gundams out of sight.

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon plotting out the wards he would be placing around their camp once they arrived in California. He would need to set up an array of temporary wards that would not affect the stationary Gundams but still be strong enough to offer both him and the two suits enough protection while the two pilots infiltrated New Edwards Base. He also had to make certain that he didn't draw the attention of the American Wizard's Council (if it even existed in this world) or any fully trained wizards in the area. Harry wasn't certain whether or not he wanted to find a magical society here on this earth; his experiences with the magical society on his home world less than pleasant for the most part (though there were some things he missed).

Mid-night found the trio in California setting up camp in the Angeles Crest to the south of Lancaster and Palmdale, just a short drive from the New Edwards Base. While Duo and Trowa secured their Gundams, Harry secured the camp with the low powered wards he'd spent the afternoon researching. He'd tied both teens into the Collapsible Ward Scheme (the technical name for temporary wards) and set up a release trigger that could be activated by either pilot in the event that Harry wasn't in any condition to drop the wards himself (something that was only possible because both teens were squibs).

Six hours later, Harry watched the two teens drive off in the borrowed truck feeling slightly depressed to see them leave as the forest seemed to close in around him. Shaking off the sudden loneliness, Harry slipped on the radio headset that they had left with him and turned it on so he could keep track of what the others were doing. He then dug out Sirius's grimoire (where his godfather had written the notes on warding the motorcycle) and climbed up on the left foot of Heavyarms where he curled up beneath the large bar that covered the ankle joint.

Once he was relatively comfortable, he turned on the torch he'd brought with him, opened the notebook, and began reading through Sirius's notes while trying not to think about his absent godfather. He'd only been reading for a couple of hours when he came across the information that would eventually help him to protect the Gundams from magical interference.

_When I first put the bike back together after taking it apart to layer on the various  
enchantments and spells, I thought I had either messed up the enchantments or put  
the bike back together wrong because the engine refused to start. I was at my wits  
end trying to figure out what I'd done wrong until Lily made an offhand comment  
about how magic could be considered a form of energy that is between ten and one  
hundred times more powerful than the electrical current produced by the starter on  
the engine. _

_It turns out the magic I used had killed the starter and blown all of the fuses because  
the current was far stronger than what the components could withstand. Lily said I  
was damn lucky I didn't blow myself up with my tinkering. _

_As much as I hated it, I had to tear the entire bike apart a second time and strip the  
enchantments from every single piece because I needed to start over from scratch in  
order to protect each individual piece from the magic that needed to be layered over  
it. This was done through a series of protective runes that Remus helped me design  
since I was pants at Ancient Runes. _

_Each part of the bike had to be carved with the protective runes, even the ones that  
seem like they wouldn't need it (like the mirrors and seat) because the runes function  
as a an entire ward system and if there are any gaps then the wards won't work  
properly. I don't know why it only works that way and even though Moony tried to  
explain it to me, most of it went right over my head and all I really needed to know  
was that every single piece needed to have the runes; even the little screws that hold  
everything together._

_The one time I ignored Moony's instructions to carve the runes onto to everything, my  
poor bike exploded the moment I turned it on and used active magic on it to test the  
wards. Moony said I was damn lucky to walk away from that with my life and with both  
of my legs still attached. He also almost refused to help me buy a new motorcycle._

_Once the runes are in place, the protective spells need to be cast before adding the  
various other enchantments otherwise the protective spells won't sit right and the  
structure of both enchantments and spells tend to break down and fail utterly; I found  
that out the hard way when I had to take apart and rebuild the bike for the fourth time. _

_When everything is in place, the activation and deactivation runes must be placed on  
the finished product otherwise the enchantments will run endlessly which could  
potentially pose a problem; especially if you are using any type of invisibility spells.  
Thankfully, adding the control runes in was a piece of cake (according to Moony)._

Harry chuckled sadly as he imagined Sirius throwing a tantrum each time he had to take the motorcycle apart again to start over or potentially bawling his eyes out the time it exploded. Harry also immediately realized that Mr. Weasley must have tried to do the same thing that Sirius had done, only the older man hadn't exactly known what he was doing; hence the reason why the enchantments had failed several times during the flight between London and Hogwarts and when the car crossed the wards at Hogwarts.

That made him wonder if it was even Mr. Weasley who enchanted the car since Pettigrew would have been living with the Weasleys at that point and Pettigrew would have known about Sirius's bike (possibly even helping to enchant it at one point). If Pettigrew did help Mr. Weasley, it would explain why the wards hadn't been done properly as the rat-like man struck Harry as forgetful and lazy when his life wasn't being threatened.

In an attempt to think about something other than those who had betrayed him and his family, Harry studied the rune scheme that Sirius (or possibly Remus) had drawn in the grimoire before digging out the Rune Dictionary so he could look up the definitions of the runes to better understand exactly what it was the runes were supposed to do. He needed to know if the same rune scheme would work for the Gundams or if he'd need to create a new scheme in order to ward the robot suits.

That led to him hunting for a book on the basic theory of runic wards so he could better understand what made rune based wards work since he'd not chosen the class as an elective and he'd not studied the subject beyond what he'd needed to set up the bathroom and kitchen in his cave with running water and some of the pre-set runic wards he'd used to protect and hide his cave (after all, copying a rune scheme out of a book wasn't the same as building your own). He also began taking his own notes as he researched the runes and the basic theory behind runic wards.

Harry became aware of the passing time near noon when the headset he was wearing crackled to life and Duo's voice announced that they'd successfully infiltrated the base. Harry replied back as he'd been instructed to do; announcing that base camp was secure. And even though he was expecting it, the sound of Heero, Quatre, and Wufei each checking in with the news that they were in position over the next ten minutes, made Harry jump. Huffing over allowing himself to be caught off guard by something so simple as hearing the others' voices, Harry slid down off the Gundam and set about putting together a light lunch for himself.

After he ate, he returned to his research for the remainder of the afternoon in order to avoid allowing his mind to wander to less pleasant topics. By the time the sun set, Harry was feeling exhausted and he skipped supper in favor of getting some sleep. He mechanically set up his sleeping bag between the two Gundams and crawled into bed but found the mostly unfamiliar sounds of the forest (not counting the hooting of wild owls) intruding on his mind and feeding his overactive imagination. Eventually, he gathered up his things, dug out his broom, and flew himself up to Heavyarms' cockpit where he curled up in the pilot's seat and promptly fell asleep after closing the door.

The next nine days dragged by slowly for Harry as he divided his time between practicing his knife throwing, reading through the various spells books he'd brought out, and researching the runes he would need for the protective wards. Radio communications were few and far between since they ran the risk of someone picking up their conversations if they weren't careful. Mostly it was just Duo and Trowa checking in every now and then with an update on which delegates had arrived and the steadily rising number of mobile suits that were being brought on base.

Occasionally, one of the other three would radio in with an update or to just check in on Harry to see how he was handling the solitude but that didn't happen often (the three of them busy scouting the off-site base facilities, revising their plan of attack, and making note of potential escape routes should things get ugly). Each night Harry would try sleeping on the ground before he'd give up and retreat to Trowa's Gundam to sleep in the pilot's chair; the feeling of warmth and security the suit radiated offering him a measure of comfort (unconsciously avoiding Duo's Gundam because of what how upset Duo had been over the suit's incapacitation by magic).

Harry lived for those periodical updates because they were proof that he wasn't completely alone. Sure, he'd grown used to living alone in his cave for two years but now that he'd spent so much time in the company of the five pilots (most of it with Heero) the loneliness ate at him even more than it had when he first found himself alone the beach. He would be the first to admit that he was socially inept and that large crowds made him uncomfortable but even he preferred dealing with unwanted company than being stuck in complete solitude.

The fact that he was alone in a forest this time, in a way, made the isolation even harder to cope with because of the knowledge that Hedwig would have felt right at home beneath the towering trees. Each time he heard an owl hoot, Harry would find himself searching the sky expectantly in the hopes that she'd be dropping down to land on his shoulder any minute.

Dawn of Harry's tenth day alone found the seventeen year old trapped in an eight year old's body clearing away any signs that any one had been camping in the area as best he could. His entire body radiated tension as the knowledge that there was any number of things that could go wrong once the pilots set their plans into motion hovered in the back of his mind. When the order came through for them to start the mission, Harry flew himself up to the cockpit and began activating the systems like Trowa told him to; engaging the long range scanners as it would be his job to monitor the number and position of the mobile suits on the base and notify the five pilots of any enemy reinforcements headed their way.

It was a job given to him mostly to keep him occupied rather than out of any real need since the five pilots were more than capable of gathering that information themselves in their Gundams (or within the base) far more reliably. In a way, it was part training session and part test to see if Harry had what it took to handle more such missions in the future or if they would need to work harder on keeping him someplace safe and otherwise occupied. The communication system was the next one activated and Harry soon had visuals on the three pilots inside of their suits along with audio feeds for the two inside of the base.

"This is Base Camp; long range scanners confirm the presence of six hundred active suits split between the hangers on both the east and west end of the air stripe. An additional four hundred fifty active suits are being housed in a series of off site warehouses to the north, east, and south," Harry announced the moment he scanned the monitors displaying the feeds from the scanners.

"_We read you loud and clear, Base Camp,_" Quatre replied. "_Decoy Zero-Four moving in to disable the troops in the western hanger._"

"_Decoy Zero-Five proceeding to disable the troops in the eastern hanger,_" Wufei stated next.

Harry watched the two Gundams appear on the center screen as they moved onto the base and he tensed as both of the hangers in question exploded outwards as the two pilots fired on them. Barely one third of the suits managed to survive the destruction due, in part, to the explosives Trowa and Duo had secretly set throughout both hangers over the past several days. Harry made a strangled sound in the back of his throat at the knowledge that hundreds of people had just been killed.

"One h…hundred F…fourteen and s…seventy-eight surviving suits east and west re…respectively," Harry choked out once the numbers appeared on the monitor. "Sc…scans show the f…four-fifty on the outside mm…moving in fast."

"_You're doing fine, kiddo; just take a deep breath and try not ta think about it too much,_" Duo instructed in an effort to keep Harry focused on something other than the dead and dying. "_All pigeons are currently being evacuated ta an OZ shuttle instead of their individual craft. Mole Zero-Two preparin' ta intercept pigeons and transfer them ta an unmarked shuttle now._"

"_Unmarked shuttle is secure and ready for loading of pigeons. Mole Zero-Three now heading towards OZ shuttle in order to rig original transport to self-destruct at an altitude of three thousand feet,_" Trowa interjected calmly just a few minutes later.

"_Decoy Zero-One reporting successful interception of reinforcements coming from the north._"

"_Southern reinforcements have been disabled as well,_" Wufei reported on the heels of Heero's announcement.

"Scans show a fleet of ten airborne carriers approaching from the south-east; estimated time of arrival is eight minutes," Harry stated in a far calmer voice once his initial panic passed along with the nausea that had come with the knowledge that he was helping to kill people as he focused his attention on his current task the moment he saw the blips appear on the monitor to his left.

"_Roger that, Base Camp; reinforcements from the east have now been contained._"

"_Original pigeon trap turned transport decoy has been successfully sabotaged; autopilot has been engaged and the transport decoy is approaching runway. Transport decoy set to take off in T-minus one minute and thirty seconds._"

"_Three pigeons have split from the flock and were last seen headed towards a private jet; suspect cuckoos in the nest,*_" Duo barked out on the heels of Trowa's report.

"Incoming carriers due to arrive in three minutes; initial scans indicate all ten carriers are hauling an estimated twenty-four inactive suits each. Scans also indicate approximately fifty tanks moving in from the south-west sector and a small group of foot soldiers hauling anti-aircraft missile launchers creeping in from the north."

"_Transport decoy has successfully lifted off the ground and rapidly approaching target altitude; detonation expected in T minus fifteen seconds. Destruction of decoy shuttle has been confirmed. Private jet holding the suspected cuckoos is heading for the runway._"

"_Pigeon coop is leavin' da hanger now. Private jet holdin' da trio of cuckoos has reached the runway and preparin' for take-off._"

"_Decoy Zero-One splitting off to provide escort to pigeon coop,_" Heero reported as his Gundam transformed into a fighter plane and shot off after the unmarked shuttled carrying the majority of the delegates.

There was no time for celebrating the completion of a successful mission; however, as the reinforcements were nearly upon them and those who were still on base would have to fight their way out.

* * *

**Notes:**

Cuckoos in the nest – refers to the cuckoo's parasitic tendency to place their eggs in the nests of other birds. Often times the parasitic hatchling will kill the hatchlings of the host (but not always).

* * *

**AN:** _What a busy chapter. I'd tried to write more of the end sequence of Harry and Heero meeting Relena but the Pink Princess is very hard for me to write and Harry really wasn't in the mood to cooperate; he really doesn't like fan-girls. There was a ton of other comments I wanted to make about the chapter but my mind is full of mush so I'll just bow out gracefully and leave you with the promise of the next chapter being up tomorrow. _

_Before I do go, I'd like to thank every for their get well wishes; they were very much appreciated (as were all of the reviews) ~ Jenn_


	15. Fall Out

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 14: Fall Out

"Carriers arriving in less than one minute, scans show increased power output signaling activation of mobile suits," Harry announced as his voice wavered and cracked as his nervousness returned.

"_Moles Zero-Two and Zero-Three are vacating the premises now._"

"Guys… you need to check the news… there's some pompous army bloke on there saying you just killed a bunch of other stuffy army blokes alongside a group they're calling the peace seekers," Harry worriedly told them as his eyes were drawn to the left hand monitor that was displaying a newscast.

"_The newscast is not important right now, a counter announcement can be aired once the delegates are safe,_" Quatre assured Harry before a loud blaring alarm cut through his transmission.

"_Damn it, someone has gone and activated a self-destruct sequence,_" Wufei growled out.

"_There are forty seven ICBMs housed at New Edwards Base and if they were to explode all at once, it'd instantly wipe out a radius of over three hundred kilometers!*_" Quatre informed them with no little concern. "_We've got less than ten minutes before detonation and there's no time for us to get clear of the area before they explode; not to mention all of the innocents that would be caught in the explosion. We've got to find a way to stop it!_"

Harry's heart rose up in his throat and he stopped breathing as he digested Quatre's revelation even as he stared at the map of the base on the monitor in front of him. Numbness washed over him as he listened to the four pilots still on base frantically discussing their options (all the while fighting against the newly deployed reinforcements) until suddenly someone by the name of Major Po was giving them help. At the same time, news flashes from all around the world began speaking of a world wide take over by OZ troops but Harry didn't care as he continued to stare fixedly at the map of New Edwards Base on the screen.

When there was less than a minute left until the missiles detonated and it seemed as though Trowa and Duo wouldn't be able to shut down the self-destruct sequence in time, Harry abandoned his post and opened the cockpit door so he could stare down at the valley below where he knew the pilots were trapped. Dropping down onto his knees just outside of the open door, Harry closed his eyes and pressed his face to the ramp unable to watch the explosion he feared would come but at the same time unwilling to hide within the relative safety of the Gundam. He may not really trust the pilots and he wasn't certain just how much he liked any of them but they had been kind to him and he never really wished any them harm (bar Heero but that had mostly been his fear and anger talking).

A minute passed… and then two minutes… and Harry held his breath as he glanced up and peered down at the valley below to find that it appeared unchanged aside from the smoke that was rising from the still burning buildings on the ruined base and several off-site storage facilities. He worried at first that maybe his calculations of how long was left until the missiles were detonated were off until another five minutes passed by without the feared explosion. Feeling hopeful, Harry clambered up onto his feet and dashed back inside to check the long range scanner to confirm what he'd seen with his own eyes. A voice calling his name soon pulled his attention to the abandoned headset and he hurriedly picked it up with shaky hands.

"_Harry? Harry, are you there!? Can you hear me!?_"

"I'm here… and… you're still there," Harry choked out as he shoved the headset back over his head and clung to the pilot's seat as his knees gave out on him.

"_Yes, we're all here and we're all just fine. Trowa and Duo disabled the master detonation switch with the help of a sympathetic officer within the Alliance forces,_" Quatre confirmed.

"OZ is trying to take over the world," Harry babbled nervously as he tried to hide the fear he'd felt just minutes earlier and his roller coasting emotions over the unexpected but greatly appreciated confirmation that everyone was alright. "They've got thousands of troops attacking various Alliance Bases all across the world. And the delegates have revealed that they are still alive and some old Duke bloke is saying it's a trick as they replay the decoy shuttle exploding. He… the Duke bloke has declared that all five of you guys are nothing but bloodthirsty terrorists."

"_Don't worry about it, Harry; everything will get straightened out in the end and right now we have a mission to finish,_" Trowa instructed firmly. "_The world will know the truth eventually and in the mean time we'll keep on fighting. Just sit tight for now and keep an eye on the long range scanners; let us know if there's anything else headed this way._"

"Alright, I… I can do that."

Having something to do helped Harry to calm down and regain control of his emotions as he passed along information to the retreating pilots (which was why he'd been given the order in the first place). It took three hours for Duo and Trowa to slip away from the base and get clear of the various pursuers that discovered their presence while Quatre and Wufei dealt with the rest of the OZ mobile suits that had been sent to destroy them. Once the two pilots on foot were clear, the two in their Gundams retreated further to the north in order to keep the attention away from where the vulnerable pilots were making their way south towards Base Camp. Heero in the mean time was escorting the shuttle carrying the rescued delegates to Brazil where he'd already made arrangements for them to be met by a representative from the Darlians.

An hour after Trowa and Due had cleared the base, Heero's voice made a reappearance, "_Base Camp, this is Decoy Zero-One; the pigeons have safely gone to roost. Heading to rendezvous coordinates as planned._"

"Okay, Zero-One…" Harry replied absently as his mind was focusing on the patrolling mobile suits that were searching for the Gundams in and around New Edwards Base. When Harry spotted a few getting close to where he knew Trowa and Duo were passing through he quickly blurted out the information, "Three Leo suits are heading in your direction Zero-Two and Three."

"_Understood._"

It was well after nightfall by the time Trowa and Duo stumbled through the wards protecting camp. Harry tried to stay awake to monitor their progress but right about the time they entered the foothills, Harry slipped off to sleep as the long week of loneliness leading up to the mission and the emotional stress of the long day finally caught up with him. The two teenage pilots would find him sprawled out on the pilot's chair of Heavyarms with the headset hanging haphazardly off his head.

* * *

_Three weeks later…_

Harry expertly held a metal etching tool in his right hand as he sat hunched over a high powered microscope upon which sat about a dozen tiny screws. Laid out beside him, were the rest of the inner workings of a cell phone that he'd taken apart two days earlier; each piece carefully carved with a series of symbols. Watching curiously and with great interest from the sidelines were Heero and Duo. Harry did his best to ignore the two pilots as he worked, knowing he had to draw each character correctly or he'd have to start all over (yet again).

When they'd arrived back at the Winner Estate nearly three weeks ago (Trowa, Duo, and Harry getting back two days after the other three pilots), Harry had immediately asked for a radio, a phone, and a laptop. When asked why he wanted the devices, Harry grew nervous before hesitantly revealing that he might have figured out how to shield the Gundams from his magic but that he first wanted to test the wards on something that would be easy to fix or replace. That had instantly drawn the attention of all five pilots but none more so than Heero and Duo because the systems in their suits had been damaged when Harry had used his magic on them.

He'd destroyed three radios before he'd managed to successfully ward and charm one over the course of a single day (this world's electronics far more intricate than anything Harry had seen in his old world). After that he'd immediately began working on the cell phone, since it was slightly more complicated than the radio and he'd destroyed the first one in a spectacular explosion; apparently the rune scheme he'd put together had serious issues with the phone's memory card and inner circuitry.

That had been frustrating for Harry because he'd hoped that what had worked for one device would transfer over to another but that wasn't the case. The more advanced the technology the more complicated the rune scheme would need to be and Harry had ended up blowing up another four phones over the course of two days before he realized that the rune alphabet he had been using just wasn't flexible enough to handle the complexity of the technology involved.

Harry had been so frustrated by the failure that he'd disappeared into the desert on his broom for sixteen hours which had nearly sent the entire estate into a panic until he'd returned around sunset looking far less stressed and more than a little sunburnt. He'd been scolded for taking off on his own as those familiar with the area cited all of the dangers that lurked beneath the sand (if Heero had been present at the time he'd probably have used Harry's oath to prevent him from doing it a second time). When they'd mentioned the venomous snakes (and other deadly creatures) Harry had actually laughed and said he had no reason to fear the venom of any creature and most especially not the venom of a snake.

That had only raised more questions but Harry had simply smiled at them and ignored their inquiries; he had no desire to explain his ability to speak with snakes or the immunity he'd gained from a wide range poisons and most venoms after being exposed to basilisk venom and phoenix tears. An immunity he hadn't lost despite the fact that both substances no longer flowed through his blood since the magical properties of both potent substances had been passed onto his magical core giving him an even greater resistance (not that Harry was aware of the changes magic had made to his core; he was only aware of the end results). It was also part of the reason chemical based pain killers didn't work on Harry unless he'd exhausted his magical core to the point where he didn't have enough magic to fight against the drugs (something that hadn't been discovered until after Harry had regained consciousness after his bout of Space Flu when they'd tried giving him over the counter pain relievers).

A couple of days after that, Harry was taking yet another small break from all of the research he'd been doing to find a solution to the warding issue when he stumbled upon Wufei painting outside in the courtyard in the shade of the palm trees. Harry had taken one look at the Chinese characters neatly drawn down the right side of the watercolor painting of the afternoon courtyard, what he later learned were called hanzi, and just knew he'd found what he'd been looking for in the elegant and in some cases extremely complex symbols. The only problem was that it would take him years to learn the language well enough to use it to create the wards he needed; well, it would _if_ he learned the language the normal way.

One of the memories that Sirius had left him was an impromptu lesson on an obscure (and in magical Britain, illegal) spell that allowed a person to literally absorb the entire contents of a book. The spell didn't just copy the information from the book; it literally pulled the information from the pages of the book, crammed it into the mind of the person performing the spell (permanently embedding the information into their memories), and left nothing but blank pages behind. It was a dangerous spell to use because a person could literally overload their brain or end up cursing themselves if the book they were absorbing had any kind of dark or defensive magic on it; hence why the spell had been outlawed in Britain.

It was the perfect spell for learning a new language though and if Harry had ended up some place where they didn't speak English (or been found by someone who didn't speak any English when he first arrived) it would have been imperative for him to be able to learn the basics of the language quickly in order to survive. That was why Sirius had left the memory to teach him how to perform the spell along with all of the warnings he'd need to keep in mind least he fry his own brain. The biggest warning he'd been given was to never absorb more than one book per day and to never absorb more than three hundred pages of information at a time; that meant that larger books would need to be broken down (physically) in order to be absorbed over several days. Harry hadn't used it during the time he lived alone because there hadn't been a pressing need for cramming information into his head.

Since books were a bit harder to come by in the technology-reliant society he'd ended up in, Harry had talked Wufei into printing off the entire Traditional Chinese dictionary (no easy feat), a Chinese to English dictionary, the entire history of the Chinese alphabet, the rules pertaining to reading and writing Chinese, and lessons on Chinese calligraphy. He'd also asked the pilot to print off everything he would need to know in order to understand the technology of this world; meaning a list of basic parts and components he could expect to find in any given device, the functions of the various parts and components, and how the parts and components interacted with each other. It wasn't exactly a comprehensive study of technology but it was enough to give Harry the basic understanding he would need in order to design the wards.

Harry had then slipped into the trunk that held his fortune and family heirlooms and brought out a few rather large gemstones and a couple of bars of gold in order to pay for the paper needed to print everything off and to replace what he'd used up from his portable larder and supply trunk over the past two years. The pilots had been gob smacked to see the small fortune that Harry had produced and Harry wisely refrained from mentioning that what he'd brought out didn't even add up to one percent of his entire fortune.

Quatre had handled the selling of the gems and gold in addition to purchasing the various perishables and supplies he'd requested. The blonde had used the transactions to teach Harry about the standard currency used worldwide (which was based upon a monetary system that was different than what he'd used in both the muggle and wizarding world back home) and a brief lesson in basic economics. What money was left over from the various purchases was stored in his trunk where it would be safe and easy to get to since opening a bank account could draw attention to him and make him easier to find (something he desperately wanted to avoid).

Harry had then started off absorbing the history of the Chinese alphabet, moved onto the rules, and then onto the calligraphy lessons before finally working his way through the two dictionaries. It had taken him a full week just to absorb everything and during that time he'd walked around with a perpetual migraine and snapped at anyone who spoke above a whisper. He'd spent another two days recovering from the ordeal and learning how to actually access and use the knowledge that he'd absorbed before he took another day to absorb the basic technology lessons he'd requested. Any gaps in his new knowledge would be filled in through normal avenues of study in order to reduce the risk of giving himself permanent brain damage.

The moment he absorbed everything he thought he would need, he'd sat down and began designing the new wards from scratch while using Sirius's original wards and the radio wards he'd created as references for the basic properties he would need to incorporate. It had taken him nearly another full week to do so but once he finished he was almost confident that he'd finally created a ward scheme that would work on all technology; regardless of the complexity. He'd been working on inscribing the wards onto the individual part of the cell phone ever since. It was slow work because he couldn't use magic to enlarge the smaller pieces nor could he use magic to inscribe the runes and the complexity of the symbols he was using for the wards required him to pay close attention to each one he carved so he didn't make any mistakes.

While Harry had been busy working on his warding project and occasionally practicing with the throwing knives that Trowa had given him, the pilots had been monitoring the political fall out from their staged rescue of the delegates. OZ hadn't stopped their invasions; though they were far less successful than they would have been had the Gundam pilots actually assassinated the various officials that had been attending the peace conference.

More than half of the delegates and their families had been safely escorted out into space once the pilots had briefed them on the situation and provided them with hard evidence. The rest of them had rallied the now scattered Alliance troops and began fighting back against OZ on Earth. Relena Darlian, who'd finally revealed to the world that she was alive in the wake of the failed assassinations, fled into space as well after revealing that it had been OZ, specifically Lady Une on orders from Treize Khushrenada, who had assassinated her father and attempted to assassinate her.

Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei spent a good deal of that time out on missions battling against OZ troops, helping the various nations that were currently besieged; leaving Duo and Heero to watch over and help Harry (since those two were the most mechanically inclined out of the five pilots and because Heero was the only one who could keep Harry from taking needless risks).

When Harry finished etching the ward onto the final screw, he sat up and stretched; causing his back and shoulders to pop. Sighing, he turned off the etching tool and set it off to the side to cool before he shook out his hand. Leaning forward, he inspected his handiwork before turning to the two pilots and asking, "I'm finished; can one of you please help me put it back together?"

Duo nodded and didn't hesitate to join Harry at his work bench, the long haired pilot happy to help since Harry's projects appealed to his inventive nature. Heero could have helped as well but he preferred to tinker with the mobile suits and was content to sit back and watch (that and he didn't want to inadvertently antagonize the pint sized wizard now that he'd stopped being so confrontational). It didn't take very long for the phone to be reassembled and the trio headed out to the desert so that Harry could test the new ward by casting a series of harmless but powerful at the phone while it was running.

Harry closed his eyes and sighed as he sagged back against the small wall he'd constructed to protect Heero and Duo from any potential explosions. He'd spent twenty minutes straight firing spell after spell at the phone in an attempt to thoroughly test the effectiveness of the new ward. As he recovered from the slightly exhausting barrage, he strained his ears to catch the sound of ringing as Duo dialed the number of the warded phone. When the clear bell-like chimes rang out sharply, Harry allowed a satisfied grin to flash across his face before he opened his eyes in time to watch Heero vault over the wall and trot over to collect the phone.

He watched as the pilot picked up the phone and spent a good five minutes testing the various functions before he used it to call Duo's phone. Pushing away from the wall, Harry turned to head back to the workshop they'd set aside for him to use (fully intent on tearing apart the old laptop they'd given him now that he knew his redesigned ward worked) when he felt himself being lifted bodily off the ground by the waist. Growling, Harry glared up over his shoulder at Duo who simply grinned back at him as he carried him like a sack of grain beneath his left arm.

Huffing, Harry crossed his arms and said nothing; having learned the hard way that Duo was just as stubborn as Heero when it came to refusing to put him down (part of the long haired teen's ongoing efforts to break Harry out of his tendency to lash out violently whenever someone touched him). Of course, he could have simply hexed the obnoxious pilot but at the moment Harry was more than a little exhausted from the time spent doing his damnedest to overload the circuitry on the warded phone after the long hours he'd put in carving the wards on each and every piece of said phone.

"Good job, kiddo, I think da next step is ta see if others can carve da wards ya designed onta da various parts or if ya have ta do all of da actual carvin'," Duo declared as he hauled Harry across the courtyard. Harry let out an irritated growl at being called kiddo yet again and wished he'd had energy enough to string the long haired pilot up by his ankles. "The Wuff-man should be back later this afternoon and he's already agreed ta run another test with one of da extra phones we picked up after ya toasted da first three. In da mean time, it's almost lunch time and even I can tell ya tuckered yourself out. After lunch and a nap ya can go back ta tinkerin' while Heero and I place bets on how many laptops you're gonna destroy before it's time ta test da ward on one of da Taurus suits ya managed ta procure for us ta study."

Any complaint Harry would have made over the need to 'nap' was quickly buried beneath the wave of nausea Harry felt as he was reminded of the handful of suits he'd disabled and shrunk the night they'd raided his beach cave. One of the first things he'd been asked to do when they returned to the estate was to unshrink the five suits they'd 'captured' that night (which included the Leo that had attacked Heero upon entering Earth's atmosphere).

Harry had been watching the Maganacs swarm the newly restored suits when they opened the cockpits of the ones Harry had collected during the battle to discover that the pilots had not survived the shrinking of the suits. It didn't just kill the men or women inside of them and Harry would forever be haunted by the bloody mess he had glimpsed when the Taurus suit he'd been standing below had been opened. Shrinking spells did not affect living beings so when the suits shrank around the pilots, the people inside had been crushed in an instant as there'd been no time for them to escape.

"Try not to think about it, Harry," Heero instructed as he walked up and slapped Duo on the back of the head for bringing up the suits. "We both know you didn't do it on purpose and I had no idea what would happen to the pilots or I wouldn't have asked you to try and capture any of the suits that way."

Harry looked up at Heero for a brief moment before he dropped his head back down, his entire body going limp as he tried to do as told. It was hard for Harry not to dwell on the fact that he'd killed that night and his nights were still often filled with nightmares over that fact; except for the times he managed to slip away to sleep in one of the Gundams. So far he'd only been caught sleeping inside of the suits (usually Heavyarms when Trowa was at the estate) a small handful of times. Each time he was caught, he'd claim that he'd fallen asleep familiarizing himself with the various systems. He suspected that they didn't quite believe him but he wasn't about to admit that he felt safe inside of the Gundams because he didn't think he could explain what it was that he felt from the suits.

Harry ended up falling asleep halfway through lunch and sleeping fitfully through the entire afternoon. When he woke up shortly after sunset, Harry found himself back in his room. He sat up in his bed and stared blankly at the foot of the bed for a few minutes as he thought back to his success warding of the phone. A minute later, he slipped out of bed and headed for his workshop without bothering to put his shoes on (having gone almost two full years barefoot on the beach in and around his cave made it hard for him to tolerate the constricted feeling of shoes on his feet).

He paused on his way across the courtyard, his eyes automatically searching the sky for the Dog Star as his thoughts briefly turned to his godfather as they often had over the months since Sirius sent him away. After a few minutes, Harry shoved his inner turmoil aside as he tore his eyes away from the sky and ran the rest of the way to the workshop. Inside the small room, Harry found Wufei working on adding the ward he'd designed to one of the extra phones. He hesitated in the doorway a moment before he entered the room and scooped up one of the waiting laptops.

Grabbing a screwdriver, he proceeded to open the case only to groan the moment he saw how much more complex the laptop was when compared to the cell phone. He knew, after just taking that one look; that his ward scheme was not going to be practical in warding the laptop against magic. Cursing, Harry tossed the screwdriver on the bench and glared at the various cards and chips attached to the system board as if the laptop had purposefully been looking to hinder Harry's efforts.

"Something wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm beginning to understand why magic and technology don't mix very well," Harry complained after a brief moment's hesitation. "Simple things like radios and old motorbikes aside, technology is just too damn complicated and delicate when compared to the simplicity and power of magic. If there are this many stupid little parts inside of something like a laptop, then how much more complex is the inside of one of those damn robots going to be!?"

"Do you have to carve the wards onto each individual piece?"

"According to Sirius's notes and everything else I've read; yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know, the books I've read didn't actually explain the why, only the how. Sirius said Remus explained it to him when they were enchanting the motorcycle but he never wrote the explanation down in his notes and it's not like I can just phone Remus up and ask him because he's not here," Harry replied as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair while he gave the question some serious consideration. "I even tried reviewing the memory of that discussion but because Sirius had been bored and confused at the time, he didn't pay close enough attention to the lecture and therefore his memory wasn't clear enough to use. Although, now that I think about it; it might have been due to the simplicity of the runes Remus used to create the original ward."

"I wonder if it is possible to simplify the ward while at the same time increasing the range of coverage in order to reduce the amount of carvings needed to cover something like a system board or a hard drive; much like the wards one would use to protect a house. The only problem is that property wards require a heart stone to anchor the wards to the earth to prevent them from shifting over time and that wouldn't be possible in a mobile suit because the suits aren't always in contact with the earth."

Mind completely occupied with his new idea; Harry completely forgot Wufei was present as he snagged a pen and paper so he could began designing yet another new ward scheme. Two hours later, he dropped his pen, and collected another cell phone that he promptly removed the case from. Next, he picked up an etching tool and plugged it in so it could warm up and critically studied his new ward while absently chewing on his thumb. When his tooth cut through the skin and he tasted blood, Harry froze as he recalled something he'd read while he'd been studying wards back in his cave some fourteen or fifteen months before he'd found Heero on the beach.

_There are three basic kinds of wards; spelled, runic, and blood. Spelled wards are  
the simplest types of wards and are far more flexible since the spells can be cast  
over a wider range with little effort. They are also the weakest wards because they  
have no set structure and are easily overpowered if cast by a weak wizard. _

_Runic wards, on the other hand, are no where near as easy to set up as they require  
a level of precision that is unnecessary in spelled wards. These types of wards are  
designed for a single, specific purpose and as such they tend to be far more rigid and  
less forgiving of even the smallest of mistakes. Runic wards also require careful  
calculation to design, since you have to account for everything inside of the wards as  
well as what you are protecting against. _

_Finally, blood wards are actually an advanced form of runic wards that are given a  
measure of flexibility through the magic in the blood when combined with the power  
inherent in the runes. It is believed that the living magic in a wizard's blood imparts  
a degree of sentience to the wards allowing them to make minor adjustments in order  
to recognize and counter minor fluctuations. The biggest drawback to using blood  
wards is the level of sacrifice (whether willing or unwilling) that is required in order  
to fulfill the requirements to create and power the ward._

"It can't be that simple," Harry murmured as he pulled his thumb out of his mouth and stared at the blood welling up from the cut he'd made. "Only one way to find out I suppose."

Grabbing an empty paper cup from the water cooler that was kept in the lab, Harry began squeezing out a bit more blood from his thumb until he had filled the cup up about a quarter of the way. He then stuck his thumb back in his mouth to stop the bleeding as he grabbed a second phone and removed its case before he picked up the etching tool and began carving the new ward scheme onto each corner on the inside of all four sections of the two phone cases. Once he finished with that, he set the tool aside and used the bottom of his pen to carefully paint the runes of one case with the blood he'd collected.

Once he was finished, he folded the top half of the cup down (so the blood inside wouldn't be contaminated) and replaced both covers on the two phones. Unaware that Wufei had been keeping an eye on him while he was working, Harry dropped down off the stool and gathered up both phones to head out to his testing range with Wufei following along behind. After turning on the two phones, he set them both down on the same patch of desert that had held the phone he'd tested earlier that morning (leaving several yards in between them) and backed away from them as he pulled out his wand.

He hesitated for just a moment as doubts filled him before he shook his head and fired two rather high powered stunners at the pair of phones. One of the phones exploded rather spectacularly the moment the stunning spell hit it and Harry winced as a piece of the plastic case sliced through the side of his arm before he ducked out of the way. He soon forgot all about the new cut though as he noted the second phone was still in one piece. Worried that it might still explode, he sent out a third stunner and hit it a second time and ducked down before it landed only to grin when nothing happened.

Trotting forward, Harry picked up the phone and the first thing he noticed was that the display was still functioning despite being hit with two spells. A quick peek inside of the case confirmed that it was the blood warded phone that had survived the experiment and Harry instinctively knew that the same ward would work for the laptop. Darting back inside to the workshop, eager to confirm his findings, Harry never noticed Wufei calling both Heero and Duo on his personal cell phone as the young Asian watched Harry disappearing back inside the squat building; his dark eyes filled with concern.

It took Harry a little longer to apply the blood runes to the laptop as he'd needed to pull a bit more out from inside of the machine to reach the inner case. He'd also decided to ward the system board, hard drive, memory cards, and processor separately since they were so complex. Once that was done he quickly painted them with the rest of the blood he'd collected earlier before he struggled to put the laptop back together in the proper order.

"Here, this needs ta go back in first," Duo quietly instructed as he handed Harry one of the components he'd forgotten as he walked up behind the shorter teen and glanced over his shoulder.

"Thanks," Harry absently replied as he accepted the piece, set aside the one he'd been trying to replace, and put the new piece into place before screwing it in.

Once he was finished securing that piece, he quickly put the rest of it back together with Duo's guidance before turning on the machine. The minute it began loading up, Harry pulled it off the bench and darted back outside so he could test it right away. He never noticed the worried looks that Duo, Heero, and Wufei were giving him as he settled the laptop into place and prepared to cast a few high powered stunners at the machine.

Eight stunning spells later and the laptop was still clearly working as the screen saver played across the screen and Harry gave a shout of pure joy as he spontaneously punched the air several times before running up to the laptop to check it for structural damage; it was completely unharmed. On a whim, Harry cast several protective charms on the outer case of the laptop (including an unbreakable charm) before throwing it up in the air and hitting it with a high powered blasting curse. As it hit the ground he felt himself lifted off the ground by a slightly irate Heero while Duo walked up and toed the apparently unharmed laptop before picking it up.

"What in the world were you thinking?" Heero demanded tightly as he gently shook Harry.

"I solved the warding problem," Harry replied slowly. "I even fixed the issue of who carves the wards; meaning that I don't have to do all of the carving on my own. If one of you can strip every single piece of the outer armor from one of the Alliance suits that have been repaired I can have it ready for testing by this time tomorrow night and if it works, which I'm pretty certain it will, I can start warding the Gundams by the day after. That is what you wanted, isn't it? To protect the Gundams from my magic?"

"Not at the expense of your life," Heero countered as he frowned at Harry.

"I wasn't at any risk with the laptop because I already knew it would work," Harry pointed out as he folded his arms across his chest and half glared at Heero.

"How could you have known that? Chang told us you'd blown up another phone tonight when Maxwell and I both saw that your ward scheme had worked already."

"I knew because the other phone would have blown up as well if I'd been wrong and I used a new ward scheme that is ten times more effective than the one I used on the earlier phone. I won't even need to make any changes to the ward before I apply it to the suits because I took into account the complexity of the mobile suits when I was adjusting the ward to work on the laptop. Now, can you please let me down? I have a long night ahead of me if I'm to prepare to ward a suit tomorrow."

"What is it that needs to be done and what can we do to help?"

"If someone could strip just the outer armor from one of the suits I could show them how and where to place the runes on each piece and then I'd just have to prime them tomorrow. The only other thing that needs to be done I have to do by myself."

"Chang, Maxwell; are the two of you up to stripping the armor from a Taurus and etching some runes tonight?" Heero asked without taking his eyes off of Harry.

"Sure, sounds like fun," Duo replied as he joined Heero.

"I would not mind helping," Wufei agreed.

Heero nodded and set Harry on the ground before ordering, "Go with them and show them what needs to be done and then I will go with you to do whatever else it is you need to do."

Harry glared up at Heero for a few seconds before he darted off to grab the new ward scheme and the etching tools. He just knew that Heero was going to give him fits about what he would need to do to prime the runes so that they worked properly. Not that Harry was all that thrilled with needing to draw enough blood to paint the runes on a single suit, let alone enough for all five of the Gundams, but it was either that or spend another three weeks working out a new ward scheme for the suits since the alternate ward he'd been trying to design wouldn't work without the blood.

He was just picking up the two etching tools when the three pilots stepped into the workshop and Harry glanced up at them before grabbing the paper with his new scheme on it. Following the three pilots towards the hidden hangers, Harry felt his stomach churn over the memory of the fate of those that been piloting the suits when he'd captured them before he buried the memory in the back of his mind. Trotting up beside Wufei, Harry passed him the paper with the new scheme on it so he could study it.

When they reached the area where the OZ suits were being kept, Harry for once ignored the adults working with the various suits as Duo stopped to speak with one of them about dropping one of the suits onto the ground and lending a hand taking it apart. Hearing them talk, Harry realized he needed to make certain they didn't take too much off the suits and that they placed them around the suit in a certain order so that the wards could be added in a specific sequence.

"It's only the outer armor or casing, whatever you call it, that needs to come off and it needs to be placed upside down on the ground beside the suit where it goes so that I can tell where it is supposed to go to make certain each rune is placed properly. It's important because if the wards aren't placed right then it will go boom; just like the phones and radios. And make certain you pull the casing from the head, feet, and hands too. Don't bother doing anything in the cockpit because it will be better if I carve those runes myself since that is where the protections need to be the strongest to protect the computers and stuff."

Harry stayed to watch them start pulling off the cover, occasionally directing them on placing the pieces on the floor. He also showed Wufei and Duo the order in which to carve the runes and exactly where each rune needed to be placed in relationship to each other based upon where each piece of the metal plating sat on the mobile suit. If the adults helping thought it strange that the two pilots were allowing Harry to supervise and instruct them, they said nothing as they calmly and efficiently stripped the suit.

As they were doing that, Harry was also making several mental calculations in order to figure out just how much blood he was going to need in order to paint the runes on each section. Just before he left, he made certain they knew not to put anything back on the suit until Harry could prime the runes. He then headed back towards the mansion and his bedroom where he had plenty of large crystal bottles and blood replenishing potions; both of which he would need. He hunched his shoulders when Heero fell in step beside him but didn't say anything hoping the teen would forget about him.

Harry's luck was never that good though and they'd barely stepped inside Harry's room when Heero spoke up, "What exactly is it that you need to prime the wards, Harry?"

"It might be better if you don't know," Harry murmured softly as he walked up to his supply trunk.

"Answer the question, please."

"Blood. Specifically, my blood," Harry replied as he paused with one hand on his trunk. "And before you pitch a fit about putting myself at risk; I'm not. I have potions that will help me replace what blood I draw quickly and safely."

"Blood… you're going to draw enough blood to coat each of the runes they are going to carve on that suit? Have you seen how fucking big that suit actually is!? Do you have any idea exactly how much blood would be required just to do a fraction of what you are suggesting!? Are you suicidal!?"

"Told you it would be better if you didn't know," Harry replied as he lifted the lid and prepared to head down into his trunk. He'd just lifted his foot to climb down inside when he felt himself being lifted off the ground and he nearly growled as Heero carried him over to the bed and tossed him down onto the mattress.

"No… just no… find another way."

"There is no other way… the suits, hell; even the damn laptop was too damn complex for a standard runic ward to work. It isn't feasible and the damn suits are so big that it would take years if I had to carve all of the damn runes myself and that's even if I managed to build the proper ward scheme because the one I used on the first phone won't work. By rights the one I put on the phone this morning shouldn't have worked because it was far too rigid."

"Harry…"

"Don't you dare use my oath, Heero," Harry hissed angrily as he rose up on his knees and glared at the taller teen. "I don't need you to play nursemaid and hold my hand over this. Either you accept what I need to do to ward the suits or you forget about warding them entirely."

"Harry, you don't have enough blood in your body to even do one suit let alone all five of the Gundams as you planned," Heero countered tightly as he glared back at Harry.

"I'm not going to be painting the entire suit, Heero," Harry dryly pointed out. "All I need is enough to cover each rune in order to power them and give the ward enough sentience to function properly. And I told you, I have potions to take so that I don't die of blood loss. Unless you know where I can find another couple of wizards willing to donate a gallon or so of blood each, you're going to have to let me do what I need to do in order to fulfill my part of the deal. Because if you go back on our deal you can guarantee that I will make your life miserable because there is no way in hell I'm going to allow you to keep me locked up indefinitely while you're off trying to get yourself killed."

Heero slowly stepped back as his face closed off and Harry watched him distrustfully as he wasn't certain what the pilot was thinking. After a few minutes, Harry slipped off the bed and walked back towards his supply trunk while watching Heero out of the corner of his eye.

"Get what you need," Heero ordered in a dead voice. "And bring it back up here where I can at least watch over you to make certain you don't stupidly drain yourself dry and so I can stop the bleeding in case you pass out."

Ten minutes later, Harry was lining up six crystal bottles that would each hold approximately one pint of blood once they were filled. Sitting beside each bottle was a crystal stopper, two vials of rust colored potion, a bottle of butterbeer, and a half of sandwich. Off to one side of the line of bottles was a vial of disinfectant, a silver knife, and a roll of gauze. Heero, meanwhile, sat stiffly in the chair beside the table where Harry was setting everything up; the teen watching Harry's every move with a stony expression. Once everything was ready, Harry picked up the silver knife he'd brought out and cleaned it carefully with the disinfectant he'd brought up with him before carefully cleaning his left hand as well.

He then glanced over at Heero for a split second before he deftly sliced open his left palm. As the blood began welling up in his palm, Harry held his hand out over the first jar and tipped it sideways so that the blood poured down into the bottle. When he began filling lightheaded, about when the bottle was half filled, Harry picked up one of the blood replenishers (the rust colored potion) and choked it down while trying not to spill his blood all over the table. He gagged a bit over the metallic taste of the potion but otherwise ignored it as he felt the dizzy spell pass just a few minutes later when the potion kicked in, temporarily tripling the number of blood cells that his body produced.

As the level of blood in the jar reached the top, Harry clenched his fist to slow the blood flow and fumbled with the roll of gauze only for Heero to snatch the roll of bandages out of his hands, cut off a large section, take hold of his hand, and apply pressure to stop the bleeding. The pilot then shoved the second vial of potion into Harry's right hand without saying a word before picking him up and dumping him on the bed. Harry huffed but obediently drank down the potion as he watched Heero seal the first bottle of blood and clean up the messes.

The disgruntled teen then shoved a half of sandwich and a bottle of butterbeer at Harry and ordered him to eat and drink before telling Harry to sleep for at least an hour before filling another jar. Harry was tempted to tell Heero to go to hell but refrained from doing so because he didn't want to provoke the teen at the moment since he still had five more bottles to fill. An additional hour of rest was added on after each subsequent jar that Harry filled as the blood loss slowly began affecting him despite the potions and food.

Once the final bottle was full, Harry swayed a bit on his feet as Heero wrapped up his left hand a final time. He ended up passing out immediately after taking the final dose of blood replenisher from the combination of blood loss and magical exhaustion. He'd been channeling his magic into each drop of blood that left his hand knowing that he needed the wards to be as powerful as he could make them. It was an undertaking that affected him thrice over because the human body was not meant to house free flowing magic, though blood could act as a focus, which meant he had not only drained his core and seriously depleted his blood supply; he also strained his body by channeling excessive amounts of magic through it.

He wouldn't wake up again until well after suppertime the next day and even then he still felt groggy and lightheaded. The first thing he did upon waking up, was stumble into his trunk to grab several potions and a change of clothes before disappearing into the bathroom to take a nice, long, hot shower. When he emerged from the bathroom nearly two hours later he felt much better and hungry enough to eat a hippogriff (a rare occurrence since he rarely ever had much of an appetite).

He wasn't surprised to find Heero in his room once more at that point but he was a bit shocked to see all four of the other pilots in the room; each one of them glaring at Heero angrily. Harry knew instinctively that they were angry about the six rather large bottles of blood sitting on the table and blaming Heero for their presence. Harry had half expected the pilots to be less than pleased once they learned how Harry was going to be warding the suits. What Harry hadn't expected was to feel angry over the discovery that the other pilots were blaming Heero.

"If you are going to be angry with someone, then by rights you should be angry with me, not Heero, because it was my decision to use blood wards," Harry announced bitingly as he dropped his dirty clothes on the floor and cleaned them with a negligent flick of his wand. "Heero tried to talk me out of it, no that's a lie; he tried to order me to find some other way to ward the suits but as I explained to him blood wards are the only viable way to protect the suits."

"The technology used in the stupid rob… in the mobile suits is far too advanced and complicated to use a standard runic ward; which are far too rigid to encompass the full scope of the technology involved in a laptop let alone something as complex as a mobile suit. Not to mention the fact that it would have taken close to a year, if not longer, to carve the runes into every single part of just one suit since the wards would not have worked otherwise."

"You could have died," Trowa growled irritably. "And Heero should have stopped you."

"I was not in any immediate danger because I took steps to prevent the worst of the blood loss and filled them up over the course of the night and not all at once. I might have been overly weak for a short period of time but as you can seen, I am perfectly fine. The wards will be stronger for my sacrifice as all blood magic requires a willing or forced sacrifice as well as blood in order to function. Sacrifices for protective magics must always be willing while those for destructive or unnatural magics are always unwilling. I willingly sacrificed the blood needed to create the blood wards therefore the wards will be far stronger than they would have been otherwise."

"You still could have died, Harry," Quatre pointed out softly. "We could have helped you collect the needed blood safely over the course of a month or so without placing you in any danger."

"And the blood would have been worthless and the wards would not have worked," Harry countered with a trace of frustration over the lack of understanding the five pilots had for the basic principles of magic. He knew it wasn't their fault they didn't know what he knew but it was frustrating that they couldn't at least trust him to know what he was doing. "There are rules to magic, even if those rules defy logic for the most part. Blood magic requires sacrifice and a certain measure of risk or it is useless; that is how blood magic works."

"And if ya had died?" Duo asked quietly.

Harry laughed softly without any trace of humor as he glanced at the long haired pilot before meeting the gaze of the others as he stated, "Death has been stalking me since I was eighteen months old; it would take far more than a little blood loss to kill me off now. Especially when you take into account everything that happened to me during my years at Hogwarts."

"I think I speak for all five of us when I say that I'd really appreciate it if you could explain exactly what you mean by that," Heero declared with a frown as he vividly recalled Harry's reaction to the first time he'd threatened to kill him.

"I'll do one even better," Harry replied as he walked over to the bed, pulled out the wooden box that Sirius had given to him from beneath the mattress, and took out the small stone bowl. "I'll show you."

Harry transfigured a pillow into a large bowl before transferring all of Sirius's memories from the pensieve into it so that they wouldn't see them (those memories far too precious to share). He then placed the tip of his wand against his right temple and began pulling out the memories of each near death experience he'd had over the course of his life. He started with the night Voldemort killed his parents and ended with the night he'd woken up on the beach after Sirius sent him away and included over a dozen incidents in between.

Once he pulled the final memory, he told the five pilots to grab hold of him because it was the only way for them to join him inside of the pensieve (ruthlessly quashing the spike of panic he felt as five hands grabbed hold of him). Inside of the memories, Harry played narrator; introducing the various participants and explaining the various spells that appeared as the memories played out in startling detail. He did his best to ignore the various reactions of the pilots as they watched bits of his life unfold starting with his mother sacrificing her life for him as a baby.

They then witnessed him nearly fall from the sky as Quirrell jinxed his broom, as he stumbled upon Voldemort's shade in the forest tracking the injured unicorn, and faced a Voldemort possessed Quirrell in his first year. In second year, he felt numb as they watched the elf enchanted bludger try to kill him in midair, saw his close encounter with hundreds of pony and car sized man-eating spiders, and faced an incompetent teacher armed with a defective wand. There was also another shade of Voldemort and the sixty foot basilisk beneath the school. Harry was silently thankful that none of the pilots realized that he spoke parseltongue when he'd spoken to the magical snake since his memory translated his words into English since that was how he'd heard them – meaning the pilots thought the snake could speak English like the giant spiders).

It felt as if his heart was being torn from his chest as the memories from his third year played out; his first encounter with dementors, the time he fainted while on his broom (because of the dementors), and the night he learned the truth about his godfather. And then he came to his fourth year and he nearly broke as he woodenly gave them the background information about the Tri-wizard Tournament as they watched him trying to out fly an angry mother dragon, his struggles beneath the water to rescue his hostage and the other little girl when he didn't even know how to swim, and finally the various deadly creatures and spells he'd faced in the maze.

That memory sequence ran right into his kidnapping via portkey, Cedric's death, Voldemort's rebirth, that last desperate battle with the dark lord, and his daring escape. It continued on to show the fake Moody dragging him off, Barty Crouch Junior's unveiling and subsequent confession, and the scene in the hospital ward as Dumbledore faced down the Minister. The final memory was a rather confusing blur as Harry woke up in Sirius's arms as his godfather strapped a strange device to his chest and sent him away before the memory blacked out until he woke up on the beach alone, in pain, and obviously half the size he had been at the beginning of the memory.

Once the last memory finished playing out, the six of them were thrown out of the pensive where they landed in one big pile on the floor. Harry unsteadily climbed back up onto his feet under the weight of all five pilots' eyes as he calmly gathered up his memories and returned them to his mind before returning Sirius's memories to the pensieve, shrinking the pensieve back to the size of a marble, and returning it to the box.

Harry then turned to stare at the pilots for a long minute before he collected the six bottles of his blood and left the room without saying a word.

* * *

**Notes: **

*Not quite an exact quote from Episode 8: The Treize Assassination (Japanese version with English subtitles)

ICBM – stands for intercontinental ballistic missile

* * *

**AN:** _The only thing I ever regretted about cutting out the scenes from the GW verse where Duo shoots Heero as he tried to blow up his Gundam was the fact that I essentially cut out Sally Po's first meeting with Heero as Sally is one of the women from the series that I really liked because she is strong, compassionate, and intelligent. I'd wanted to bring her in sooner and give her far more screen time but the chapter just didn't pan out that way and I didn't want to take too much from the anime since I dislike copying too much. Sally will not be completely ignored though but it will be a while before she pops back up. For now, bar her association with Heero and the other pilots, you can consider her playing her canon part in the background. _

_Harry is finally finding starting to adjust to his new life; part of that is the fact that he has a purpose and part of it has to do with the company he'd been keeping. There is more to it than that but Harry will bring that up later. As you can see, despite how un-confrontational Harry was in the last chapter, he hasn't completely lost his fire. The pilots also got blindsided with an up close and personal view of Harry's past; specifically the major events that shaped him into the person he is now (minus those he couldn't bring himself to share). And while the pilots had read about those incidents in the journal entries and had read the reports of the injuries incurred, seeing something happen is much different than reading about something happening._

_The next chapter will finally see Harry getting some more of his promised training and another couple of heart to hearts as Harry unintentionally reveals yet another secret. No promises on when it will be posted as I have to prepare for some unpleasantness here soon. Depending on how things go, I __**may**__be able to resume my former update schedule after the thirteenth but it depends on the outcome of the aforementioned unpleasantness. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and a big thank you to all of my readers. ~ Jenn_


	16. Training and Trust

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 15: Training and Trust

Harry spent the rest of the night tracing over each rune with his blood as all five pilots silently reassembled the suit while occasionally watching him with mixed emotions and open concern (Quatre especially worried about him as the blonde could feel Harry's emotional turmoil despite the fact that the wizard was trying to suppress his emotions). Harry did his best to ignore them as he focused on imbuing the wards with his magic on top of the magic that he'd infused into his blood. Each time he finished one section of armor, he'd add a series of spells to the metal to reinforce it before allowing them to reattach it to the suit.

As he worked his way from top to bottom, he felt the hostility permeating the suit slowly fading as his magic slowly engulfed the entire suit. By midnight, when the last piece of armor was affixed to the suit's left foot, Harry no longer felt sickened just to touch the suit even though it felt no where near as comforting as the Gundams did. He then asked one of the pilots to open the cockpit so he could etch and paint the wards inside in order to protect the individual systems.

It was the one section of the ward scheme that he had adamantly refused to allow anyone else to help with (not counting taking the various panels apart and reassembling them) because the cockpit required the strongest of wards to protect all of the sensitive computer systems housed within the cockpit. Once he was finished with that part, the suit was hauled outside to the testing grounds and the systems fired up to make certain it was still functioning. When everything came on-line as it was supposed to and no glitches found anywhere, they shuffled Harry off to bed so he could rest before assessing the effectiveness of the wards.

While Harry slept, Heero and the other pilots began pulling the outer casing from Heero's Gundam so that if the wards worked they could start carving the runes onto the suit. They wouldn't allow Harry to draw more blood or charge the runes until after he'd rested for a couple of days no matter what though, since they didn't want him to run himself into the ground. They also prepped a non-warded Taurus suit to use as a control against the testing of the warded suit in order to better gauge the effectiveness of the wards.

The Maganac mechanics that had repaired both stolen suits almost cried when they heard that they would be attempting to fry the systems in both of them again. Duo promised them that no matter what happened to the two suits they'd not have to repair either of them because they would have learned all they needed to know from both of them which helped to keep the crew from complaining too loudly. Because there was a chance one or both of the suits could self-destruct when hit with the spells, once they were turned on the cockpits were vacated and the surrounding area layered with protective wards to prevent any explosions from getting out of hand.

Harry felt extremely nervous as he stood about fifty feet away from the two suits, his shoulders hunched beneath the knowledge that there were close to one hundred people watching the current test instead of just a couple of the teen pilots as had happened during his previous experiments. After several uncomfortable minutes; Harry straightened up, buried his insecurities, and snapped off four powerful stunning spells back to back.

The unwarded suit sparked and overloaded the moment the first spell washed over it and the second spell knocked it over onto the sand before it could fall from the force of the first spell. The warded suit on the other hand appeared to absorb both the third and forth spell and remain completely unaffected; not even rocking from the force of the blasts. Harry then fired a pair of blasting curses and a gouging spell at the suit to see if the protective spells he'd added would hold or if they'd cause both the wards and the suit to malfunction.

When the suit still appeared to be fine, Harry fired one last spell at it; an overpowered patronus charm filled with every last happy thought he could muster along with his hopes and dreams for the future. The glowing, silver stag that burst forth from his wand was slightly bigger than normal and shone far brighter than any patronus he'd managed to cast in the past and Harry closed his eyes and basked in the positive emotions of the ethereal creature as he reached out to touch its nose before ordering it to charge down the standing suit. Instead of simply passing through the suit or shattering upon impact with the suit, the patronus was absorbed into the suit the moment it touched it.

The magic from the emotion based spell caused the suit to glow brightly for a moment before the light faded out and all that remained was the untouched Taurus suit. Harry sighed softly as he lowered his wand and stared at the yellow light on the head of the suit, indicating that the suit was still functioning, as the Maganac Crops mechanics swarmed over both suits in order to run a complete diagnostics on them to determine the amount of damage each sustained. Before he allowed the five Gundam pilots to drag him off and before the warded suit was shut down, Harry climbed up inside of the cockpit and cast a series of low level spells that he knew would normally interfere with the active electronics in order to test the inner wards.

Over the next week, while they ran various tests on the warded suit (including trying to blow it up with a few missiles), Harry started on the rest of the training the pilots had promised him. Trowa tested him on his knife throwing and started teaching him how to fight with the throwing blades and use them to deflect thrown weapons (the green eyed teen throwing ping pong balls at the wizard in the beginning). Wufei started him on some basic exercises to strengthen his body and increase his flexibility. Quatre gave him a series of tests in order to determine where he stood academically and started teaching him history.

Duo tested his lock picking skills and began teaching him how to pick pockets, use slight of hand tricks, and how to better blend in with a crowd. And Heero started him on the basics of using a computer in addition to expanding upon the lessons that Trowa had started giving Harry on piloting the mobile suits. Harry took to the training like a fish to water; throwing himself into the various lessons in order to keep his mind from dwelling on the past.

At the end of that first week, Harry bled off another seven pints of blood and set to work on warding Heero's Gundam while the pilots began striping the armor from Deathscythe next. This time he'd had both Trowa and Heero watching over him as he filled up each jar to make certain he survived the ordeal. It took an extra day to finish the warding, mostly because Heero made Harry take frequent breaks during the process in order to not exhaust himself as completely as he had when he'd done the Taurus. Once it was finished though, it worked even better than the wards had on the Taurus suit due to the properties of the Gundanium alloy that was used to create the suits.

An alloy that Harry had discovered, quite by accident, had magical properties that the Earth made suits distinctly lacked. The magic in the suits wasn't enough to counter Harry's raw magic (which is why he'd been able to disable Deathscythe so easily) but it did allow the blood wards an extra boost that enhanced their capabilities and gave Harry's spells something to anchor to when he cast the protective charms and spells on the suits. The presence of that weak magic also partly explained why Harry felt so safe and comfortable in and around the Gundams in comparison to the OZ suits he'd help capture though he no longer avoided the warded Taurus as completely as he did the others.

While Heero ran his Gundam through a series of tests (after Harry finished testing the wards with magic), Harry went back to his lessons for the next week. His knife throwing skills had improved by leaps and bounds as he began to see the knives as dangerous snitches instead of deadly blades. His aim would improve drastically after Quatre took Harry to replace his glasses; glasses which were ten times better than his old pair due to them having the correct prescription and frames that complimented his face.

It had taken the pilots two weeks after watching Harry's memories before they asked him what had happened to the glasses he'd worn in his memories and he stated that he didn't know; assuming they had been lost in transit or that his godfather had not sent them with him for some reason. When Heero asked why he hadn't said something sooner, Harry just shrugged his shoulders and stated that he'd gotten used to not wearing them after nearly two years and learned how to compensate for his bad eye sight.

He also reluctantly admitted to not wanting to burden them with something he felt was unimportant but that was only after Heero badgered him a bit for the full truth. Quatre had taken Harry to replace his glasses after catching that conversation through the surveillance system. Harry had been tempted to refuse but he knew he needed the glasses and he just couldn't bring himself to deny Quatre anything least he disappoint the blonde (something that still confused him at times). He was further confused when Quatre introduced him to the optometrist as his little brother and he spent the entire examination trying to figure out why the pilot had done that rather than worrying over the actual exam.

It was actually a habit that all of the pilots had quickly picked up. Any time he was taken off the estate (for any reason) the pilots would claim him as their little brother in order to avoid awkward questions from adults. Harry didn't know what to think or how to feel about the ruse; though did he tend to get irritated each time Heero posed as his big brother. Duo was the one that usually hauled Harry around from town to town; the long haired pilot continuing to teach Harry how to survive on the rougher side of the cities and working to acclimatize the pint-sized wizard to crowds (to curb his tendency of freezing up when in close proximity of unfamiliar adults or when strangers bumped into him on a crowded sidewalk).

Duo's and Trowa's Gundams were finished about the same time as Harry received his new glasses and the warding of the remaining two was put on hold as the pilots were called out to complete a handful of missions. At least one of the pilots (most often Heero or Quatre and occasionally Duo) would stay behind during those missions as they didn't want to leave Harry completely alone on the estate and they had no desire to continuously drag Harry into dangerous situations until he could better defend himself. Harry didn't really mind as he still had plenty to do to keep himself occupied while whichever pilot present monitored his various lessons to insure that he was both doing the lessons and doing them correctly.

In a way, it was awkward for Harry to have someone monitoring him so closely because no one had really cared about his progress in the past; unless it was to hinder it. It was during one such lesson outside in the courtyard that Harry inadvertently revealed two rather unique talents (well one of them was unique while the other was just an extremely difficult to learn skill). He'd been practicing his knife throwing (barefoot as usual) under the watchful eye of Heero and had just begun crossing the courtyard to retrieve his blades from the target when Heero urgently ordered him to freeze.

Harry had jerked around to find Heero aiming his pistol in his direction and he felt his heart rise up in his throat as the memory of just how much it hurt to get shot by the energy beams generated by said pistol filled his mind. From where he'd been lounging on the other side of the courtyard, Abdul Kurama (second in command of the Maganac Corps, younger brother of Rashid, and one of those drafted by Rashid to keep a discreet watch on Harry to keep the wizard out of trouble) had spotted the same thing that Heero had seen and the man had thrown a knife since he had a clearer shot. Harry saw the knife flashing out of the corner of his eye and plucked it out of the air when it came within reach. As he spun around to identify the person who'd thrown the knife at him, he nearly stepped on the Egyptian cobra that both teen and man had been targeting.

'_Step on me and I will bite you!_' the cobra hissed as it coiled up and flared its hood while glaring at Harry with beady black eyes.

'_Sorry, I didn't know you were there or I would have been more careful,_' Harry replied automatically in parseltongue as he reached out and plucked two more blades out of the air before they could injure the snake. '_It probably isn't very safe for you to hang around here though; the others are afraid of you._'

'_You speak?_' the cobra asked in shock as it immediately relaxed its threatening pose and stared up at Harry in shock.

'_Yes… though it has been years since I have spoken to any snakes,_' Harry admitted as he crouched down beside the snake while Heero and Abdul were staring at him in stunned shock. '_The last snake I spoke to wasn't much of a talker and it had been trying to kill me at the time so I wasn't in any hurry to approach another._'

'_I did not think there were any speakers left in this world._'

'_I'm not from this world,_' Harry corrected as he set the knives on the ground as he leaned slightly closer to the snake in order to get a good look at it. '_I sort of ended up here by accident and didn't even know if I could still speak to snakes since you are the first snake I've seen since I got here. You are also one of the nicest snakes I've spoken to in a long time._'

'_There are speakers in the world you come from?_' the cobra asked curiously as it slithered closer and began climbing up over Harry's bare foot and onto his lap.

'_Yes, but not many. There were only two others I knew of; one of who was long dead and the other who was trying to kill me. It was because of the second man that I had to kill the basilisk that lived at my school._'

'_You have defeated the Spawn of the Damned* and lived to tell about?_' the cobra stated in shock as it reared up and flared its hood as it flicked its tongue out at Harry (making both Heero and Abdul worry as they both brought up their chosen weapons to take aim at the snake once more only to waver as they realized they might hit Harry because of where the snake was now perched).

'_Just barely; it bit me as it died and I would have died as well if not for the phoenix that healed me._'

'_Truly? Yes, I can scent the truth of your words in your blood and I can feel it in the steady beat of your heart._'

'_I have no reason to lie._'

'_That is good to know. Do you live in this stone burrow above ground?_'

'_Yes… for now._'

'_Then I shall stay. I find myself curious to know how it is a nestling speaker came to this world and would hear of your battle with the Spawn of the Damned._'

'_I don't mind… but the other humans might take offense because they are afraid of snakes in general. I may live here but it is not really my home,_' Harry carefully explained. '_I would not wish for you to be harmed by one of them because of a misunderstanding._'

'_I shall harm no man that lives inside of the stone burrow while you make this place your home,_' the cobra promised as it slithered further up Harry's leg and coiled around his waist.

'_I will warn them that you wish to stay and that you will bring them no harm,_' Harry replied as he gently ran a finger down the snake's back, drawing a long, low moaning hiss of pleasure from the venomous serpent. '_Do you have a name?_'

'_Snakes do not need names… we know each other by scent._'

'_Oh… I didn't know that. Do you mind if I give you a name since my sense of smell isn't as developed as yours?_'

'_If you must._'

'_Thank you… um… are you male or female?_'

'_Male, the same as you young nestling._'

'_I shall call you Seth then, after the Egyptian God of the deserts, storms, and violence,_' Harry declared as he carefully climbed up onto his feet and finally looked up to see both Abdul and Heero watching him warily; or more precisely watching the newly named Seth warily as the snake wound his way up to Harry's neck to flick his tongue in Harry's ear; the ticklish touch making Harry twitch reflexively.

"Harry… please stand very still… that is an Egyptian cobra and they are rather deadly," Heero ordered slowly as he tightened his grip on his gun.

"Seth will not harm me, Heero," Harry replied after making certain to focus on the other teen (so as not to automatically slip back into the serpent tongue) as he reached up and pet the snake a second time as the snake coiled the rest of his body around Harry's neck and settled his head on Harry's left shoulder before letting out another hissy sigh of content. "He'll be hanging around for a while apparently as he is curious and quite stubborn. He did promise not to harm anyone living on the estate though."

"Uh… snakes don't speak," Abdul pointed out as he fingered another of his knives and watched Seth's every move over his sunglasses.

"Actually, yes they do. It is just impossible for most humans to hear or understand them or for them to understand human speech because they do not have vocal cords like humans, lack actual ears, and have a completely different mouth and tongue structure. To humans, snake speech sounds like hissing and involves more body language than actual words."

"You're saying that all that hissing and posturing the two of you were doing was the two of you talking to one another?" Abdul asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

Abdul shook his head and walked away muttering about crazy kids under his breath and Harry flinched as if he'd been slapped. Bowing his head, Harry crouched down to gather up the throwing knives he'd intercepted and unconsciously wrapped his hand around the three blades as he stared at the ground in shame. He never even noticed the bite of the blades as they sliced through his palm and fingers deep enough to draw blood.

"Harry?"

"You'd think I would have learned my lesson the first time," Harry hoarsely replied without looking up as he rose back up to his feet when he felt Heero step up beside him. "I can't even blame Seth because it's not like he searched me out on purpose."

"Let go of the knives, Harry."

Harry turned his gaze to his hand and stared at the blood seeping from between his fingers and running down the back of his hand without comprehension for a full minute until Heero reached out and pried his hand open and took the knives from him. Seth, scenting the blood, dropped down to investigate which made Heero jump a bit but otherwise the teen ignored the snake. Heero then tore a strip from his shirt and wrapped it around Harry's hand to stop the bleeding while Harry still continued to just stare at the blood that was now dripping from his hand onto the ground below.

'_What ails you nestling?_' Seth demanded as he wrapped his lower body around Harry's wrist and swiveled around to peer into Harry's tormented eyes.

'_Humans hate speakers, Seth; they fear us because we have the ability to speak with snakes. I'd forgotten how much it hurts to be ridiculed and shunned for something I have no control over._'

'_You humans are such strange creatures._'

Harry stared at the snake for a moment as the creature slid along his arm to return to his former perch around Harry's neck before he shook his head and pulled his injured hand away from Heero only for the pilot to grab hold of his wrist to prevent him from leaving. Clenching his jaw, Harry closed his eyes and bowed his head once more as he waited for the scornful words that he was certain were coming; his eyes burning as he struggled to hold back the tears of shame that were building up behind his eyes.

"Harry, look at me please," Heero instructed as he tipped Harry's chin up despite the proximity of the snake coiled around Harry's neck and shoulders. Reluctantly, Harry did as instructed and found himself caught in Heero's gaze. "Will you tell me what is bothering you?"

"I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The last time someone discovered I could speak to snakes the entire school turned on me and accused me of attacking the other students. How long is it going to be before that starts happening all over again here? How long will it be until someone labels me as a monster once more before they strike me down?"

"No one is going to accuse you of attacking any one just because you can speak to snakes and no one is going to harm or kill you the moment you turn your back," Heero quietly insisted. "The Maganac are not the overly suspicious type nor are they an excessively superstitious lot and they know you aren't the kind of person to harm others without reason. Abdul wasn't calling you nuts because you can speak to snakes; he was calling you nuts because you showed no fear of the deadly snake currently wrapped around your neck like a scarf. I suppose, after facing that giant snake when you were twelve a little slip of a snake the size of a cobra just doesn't seem all that frightening but for the rest of us, we are still leery of getting bit because out here it means certain death."

"How can you be so sure?"

"They didn't go on a witch hunt when they first learned about your magic and watched you testing each of the warded suits," Heero pointed out as he arched an eyebrow at Harry.

"No… they didn't."

"There you go. You know trust goes both ways; they trust you not to hurt them with your magic and the least you can do is trust that they won't hurt you because of your magic or any other abilities you might have. Why don't you go gather up your throwing knives so that you can clean your blades and Abdul's before we return his to him?"

Harry nodded hesitantly before doing as asked, his mind a swirl with the idea of actually trusting an adult; something he wasn't quite certain he could do. Then again, he'd once thought he could never trust another person period and over the past few months he'd slowly begun trusting the Gundam pilots; even Heero despite everything that had happened when he first dragged the pilot off the beach. Admitting that truth to himself and actually accepting that revelation as fact gave Harry pause as he glanced back over his shoulder to scrutinize Heero for a moment before he returned to the task of pulling free his knives.

There was no denying that he'd placed his life in the hands of the five teens and that he'd come to accept their presence without question despite the fact that he still didn't know them all that well. In fact, he felt far more comfortable around the five teenaged pilots than he ever had around Ron and Hermione; something he would not have thought possible prior to being sent to this world. Following that train of thought, Harry realized that he'd always sensed Ron's jealousy over just about everything and Hermione's sense of intellectual superiority.

Both of his former friends were very demanding and domineering and now that he was no longer under compulsion charms and a good number of his memories weren't locked behind a spell he could easily recognize that both of them had been bullies to a point. And if not outright bullies, they were at the very least highly prejudiced and very close-minded individuals (Ron having seen all Slytherins as evil and Hermione's obsession with S.P.E.W. two prime examples); and despite that he still thought of Hermione fondly because she at least had been a true friend.

Heero and the others were the complete opposite, sure they had their idiosyncrasies and their faults, but they had mostly accepted each other as they were once they spent a bit of time with one another. They even accepted Harry despite how confrontational he'd been in the beginning (and sometimes still was). Harry continued his silent introspection as he finished cleaning and putting away both Abdul's and his blades. Once he finished, he silently followed Heero towards where the Maganac Corps usually hung out in the evening hours. They'd just arrived in the underground bunker when Rashid intercepted them.

"Ah, Masters Heero and Harry, what brings the two of you down to our humble abode?"

"I came to return Mr. Abdul's blades, sir," Harry tentatively announced as he presented the blades in question hilt first to the leader of the Maganac.

"Indeed? Tell me, young Harry, is what Abdul told me about you true?"

"What exactly is it that Abdul has been saying about Harry?" Heero asked curiously as Harry flinched sharply in response to the question before shrinking in on himself and shifting so that he was practically hiding behind Heero with renewed insecurity; his mind automatically jumping to the conclusion that anything that had been said about him had been negative.

"He said that this young man plucked his knives right out of the air as if he was picking flowers from the sand," Rashid announced as he glanced at the blades Harry was still holding with great interest. "I'm curious you see, Abdul is one of our best knife throwers and I find it hard to believe that his blades could be plucked from their path so easily."

"He was trying to kill Seth," Harry whispered uncertainly as he reached up and ran a finger across Seth's back as the snake shifted around his neck.

"So, Abdul was telling the truth? You actually did snag the blades from the air? What else can you do with a knife young man?"

"I'm very good at dicing fruits and vegetables."

Harry jumped a bit when Rashid unexpectedly burst out laughing over Harry's very honest declaration but he didn't get the joke. A glance up at Heero showed the teen was smirking in amusement as well which only made Harry furrow his brow as he glanced between the two of them.

"Good at dicing…" Rashid repeated as he finally calmed down and brushed the tears of laughter away from his face as he grinned down at Harry with a fond smile. "Is there anything else you can do with a knife, young man?"

"Trowa has been teaching me how to fight with my knives and how to throw them; I'm getting better at both," Harry answered. He then glanced nervously up at Heero before adding, "And I've been teaching myself to juggle them sometimes when I'm all alone."

"You don't say? Would you be willing to give us a small demonstration?"

"I don't know… Trowa said I wasn't supposed to play with the knives but I couldn't help it; they reminded me of the snitch when I used to play on the house team at school."

"So long as you are careful, I don't think it will be problem this time, Harry," Heero stated when Harry glanced up at him uncertainly after admitting to his small act of outright defiance against he rules Trowa had set about handling the knives. "And it might be best if when you do practice your knife juggling, you do so with someone to watch you so that if you do get hurt we can help you."

Harry nodded before he glanced down at the snake that was currently poking his head beneath his shirt before glancing back up at Heero once more. "Do you think… maybe you could hold Seth for me while I'm showing Mr. Rashid how I juggle? I wouldn't want him to get hurt on accident."

"So long as he doesn't bite me, I don't mind," Heero replied after casting his own glance down at the snake in question.

'_Seth, I'm going to give you to Heero for a few minutes while I show the others my knife tricks,_' Harry informed the snake as he gently extracted the fully grown cobra from his shirt. '_He's a little nervous but he won't hurt you so long as you don't bite him._'

'_So long as he is warm and doesn't squeeze me, I won't mind._'

"Just don't squeeze him and you'll be fine," Harry loosely translated he passed the snake over to the blue-eyed teen; figuring the teen wouldn't care to know that the snake only saw him as a potential walking space heater.

As the word of Harry's pending performance spread up and down the bunker, the Maganacs cleared out a large space and gathered around so they could all watch. Harry watched them nervously but tried not to let their presence make him nervous as he fiddled with the makeshift bandage that Heero had wrapped around the cuts on his hand while Rashid returned Abdul's blades to the other man. Abdul then offered to toss knives to Harry so he could demonstrate how easily he plucked the knives from the air and after a brief moment of indecision, Harry accepted and passed the man half of the knives that Trowa had given to him (since he felt more comfortable handling the more familiar blades).

A target board was set up off to one side, so Harry could also give a display of how well he could throw the knives when he finished with his other tricks. Once Harry felt he was as ready as he was going to be (his stomach tied in knots of nervousness), he nodded at Abdul to let the man know he was ready and he focused on the blades the man currently held in his hands. Everything else around him faded away as the man threw the first two blades at the same time and Harry's hands darted out and plucked both knives out of the air before tossing them straight up as a third blade was thrown. He'd barely pulled the third knife from the air before the first two were arching back towards him and his hands flashed out with precision as he flipped them up so that he was juggling all three blades.

Harry didn't drop a single knife as he caught the remaining knife and added it to those he was juggling. He didn't do any fancy tricks, like tossing them under his leg or behind his back, but all four blades continuously flashed through the air as Harry's small hands plucked them from their downward plunges one after another. When his right hand, the one he'd sliced open earlier, began to ache; Harry threw the blades in rapid succession at the target before his hand could completely cramp up. Four solid thumps indicated that all four knives had hit the target and while they weren't exactly centered they were stuck solidly within the board.

The sound of clapping coupled with shrill whistles startled Harry as he'd forgotten he was being watched and he couldn't help the blush that spread across his face as he ducked his head and massaged his aching (and bleeding) palm. When several spoken compliments followed, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and shyly retrieved his blades so he could clean them of the blood that had splashed onto them from his injured hand and put them back in their box as his blush deepened and crept around to the back of his neck.

He was caught off guard when Abdul came up to give him a hand and offered to help him practice his throwing and juggling whenever Trowa wasn't available. Harry bit his lip before casting a nervous glance back at Heero who was smiling bemusedly in his direction. After a moment, Harry shyly accepted as he recalled what Heero had said about trust and he was a bit surprised when the man grinned down at him. He was further shocked when most of the adults showed interest in getting a closer look at Seth once Harry reclaimed the snake from Heero.

That was when he learned that Abdul had been concerned that Harry would end up bitten but otherwise had nothing against the legless reptiles. He still thought Harry was crazy for carrying the venomous snake around his neck but felt better knowing that Harry could at least control the snake to a point. Harry then commented that after facing a deadly snake big enough to swallow a pony whole, it was kind of hard to be afraid of a little cobra. The adults found that a little hard to believe but Heero confirmed that he'd seen said snake and if anything Harry was being modest about its size.

Harry and Heero spent another two hours with the Maganacs as they showed off a few of their tricks with Abdul demonstrating his knife throwing skills while two of the other adults juggled flaming torches back and forth. Another pair had a mock sword fight that lasted a good twenty minutes as they danced back and forth across the floor. Then there was a group of about six that performed a series of acrobatic tricks that had Harry fascinated. He was almost sad when Heero announced that it was time to go since it was getting late; a fact that startled Harry as he couldn't exactly recall just when he'd stopped worrying about being in the presence of so many adults.

Over the course of the next week, Harry began spending two and three hours at a time with the Maganacs each evening. The first couple of times he went he'd dragged Heero with him as he was still slightly nervous but after the third day he went alone (unless Heero felt like joining him), eager to work on his juggling and the acrobatics that a few of them were teaching him (which mostly just involved learning an entire new series of simple stretches and exercises designed to increase his flexibility and balance at this point).

After the fifth day of lessons from the friendly group of adults, Harry solemnly offered to ward their mobile suits against his magic and against enemy fire as a way to say thank you for everything they were teaching him. With Heero's help, he taught them how to carve the wards into the suits and explained why they had to be done in a particular order and placed in certain locations in order for them to work. He'd then agreed to do two suits a week since they were not quite as large or as complicated as the Gundams (their suits being far older models) and would therefore require less blood to ward. By the time the other four pilots returned from their latest series of missions, Harry had warded a total of four suits including both Rashid's and Abdul's.

There was a brief moment when Harry worried that one or more of the returned pilots would find his ability to speak to snakes repulsive but he needn't have worried. Heero had secretly warned all four of them about his previously hidden ability along with his growing talent for throwing, catching, and juggling knives. Out of all the pilots, Trowa was the one that had the easiest time accepting Seth's continued presence since Trowa himself had a way with animals (though the green-eyed teen usually worked with mammals and not reptiles).

Trowa even taught Harry how to milk Seth's venom (with the snake's permission) so that they could create anti-venom to have on hand in case of accidents. That led to Trowa taking Harry on a small mission to find and milk several other venomous species of snakes that inhabited the area so that they could carry several different anti-venoms on hand for each species; a few of them even tagging along when they returned to the mansion though they weren't as adamant as Seth about sticking to Harry's side (the cobra constantly hitching a ride on the diminutive teen).

Even though all of the pilots were back until they received their next mission, Harry continued to spend a few hours a day with the Maganacs continuing with the lessons they offered (Harry steadily, if slowly, growing more comfortable around the men though he still avoided all physical contact with them). Trowa sometimes even joined him in order to keep his own skills sharp since he quit the circus shortly after the joint mission at New Edwards Base.

Harry still attended the various lessons with the rest of the pilots as well between warding the final two Gundam suits and the other mobile suits; Wufei teaching him a series of defensive katas now that he didn't tire so easily, Quatre moving onto geography once Harry had a good grasp on major historical events of the last two hundred years, Trowa continuing to teach him knife fighting techniques, Duo starting to show him how to maintain and repair his motorcycle, and Heero continued expanding on the technological lessons (for both mobile suits and computers).

That wasn't even taking into consideration Harry's magical training which he tended to do on the side out of sight of the pilots. It wasn't that he didn't trust the pilots to allow him to continue his magical education; it was more that Harry didn't want them to get hurt if he messed up at some point. It didn't matter when it came to reading and researching but whenever he needed to practice the new spells he was learning or when he was working on strengthening his core to increase his endurance; Harry chose to vanish out into the desert for a couple hours at a time.

The pilots were well aware of what he was doing and made certain that they kept an eye on him from a distance while allowing him a measure of privacy and solitude to do what he needed. So long as he took one of the warded radios or phones with him and let someone know where he was going and when he was going to be back, they willingly let him go.

At the end of July (about eight days after the pilots had returned from their most recent mission and about two and a half weeks after he'd revealed his parseltongue ability to Abdul and Heero), the five pilots threw Harry a birthday party to his surprise. The party and cake had been a nice surprise and when asked why he was so shocked, Harry confessed that it was the second ever birthday party that had been thrown in his honor and his first ever surprise party.

He honestly hadn't expected anyone to care about his birthday, long used to spending the day alone with little to no recognition from anyone (not counting the two birthdays he'd had gifts from his former friends after his second and third year as those from his twelfth birthday had been confiscated by Dobby at the time). Harry had then lamented over the fact that he was now officially seventeen years old and still trapped in the body of an eight year old. Duo cheered him up a bit by reminding him that dynamite and C4 both came in small packages and packed quite a punch all the same.

If the party had been a surprise, the fact that he was given presents was a complete shock. Quatre gave him a top of the line laptop and a wrist watch (both of which Harry would promptly ward the next day) and Trowa gave him a second set of throwing knives and the sheaths to conceal all sixteen blades beneath his clothes. Wufei gave him a wakizashi sword and a pair of wooden practice blades (along with a promise to start teaching him how to handle the sword during their next lesson). Duo gave Harry a leather jacket and solid black helmet with gold highlights for when he rode his motorcycle.

Heero gifted him with a pair of handguns (a gift the wizard found a little ironic) and a pint-sized flight suit for when he joined them on missions. And the Maganacs adopted him into the Maganac Corp (much as they had adopted Quatre) in addition to giving him a couple of glass tanks with under the tank heaters to house those snakes that chose to stick around. Harry hadn't known what to say after receiving the gifts and had floundered for a bit until he squeaked out a soft thanks and retreated from the party feeling completely overwhelmed.

The first thing he did upon entering his room was to fill the newly gifted tanks with several inches of sand that he summoned with his wand before plugging them in to allow the heaters to warm up. He then spent the rest of the night sitting perched on the window sill in his bedroom holding Seth as he stared up at the starry sky while trying to sort through the confusing feelings he felt. When he'd first found himself trapped in this world he'd never actually expected to go on living because just the thought of continuing on without Sirius and those people he'd once thought were his friends hurt.

And now, here he was, just barely over four months after coming into contact with his first human in this world and already he was starting to forget about his previous life. Well, maybe not exactly forgetting about it; more like moving on and leaving his old life in the past where it belonged. Around midnight a knock on the door brought Harry back to the present and he reluctantly climbed down from the window sill and gave permission for whoever it was to enter.

"I came to see if you were alright," Quatre announced as he stepped inside carrying a tray holding two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits with a violin case tucked beneath one arm. "You seemed quite lost when you left earlier."

"I feel lost," Harry confessed tiredly as he placed Seth inside one of the new terrariums he'd set up earlier.

Harry then joined Quatre on the bed as the blonde held out one of the mugs of chocolate to him. The two of them sat there for several minute in silence as they sipped at their chocolate and nibbled on a biscuit or two. After a while, Harry began speaking hesitantly as he swirled the last inch of chocolate in his mug, his voice low and troubled as he spoke of how conflicted and confused he felt; Quatre's warm and soothing presence once again drawing him out of his shell despite his usual reticence in speaking about his feelings or his past.

"What you guys did for me tonight… I never expected anything like that; I mean, I didn't even know you guys knew that today was my birthday. I'd long since gotten used to treating my birthday as just another day since my relatives usually ignored me on my birthdays unless it was to give me extra chores. There were a few times they graciously deigned to give me a gift (usually a coat hanger, a pair of old worn out socks, or something else equally useless) but most times they'd just ignore me; that was especially true once I started Hogwarts."

"A few other people acknowledged my birthday after that but I still spent them alone with the exception of my fourteenth birthday and now that I know the one family was just using me it hurts to remember the time I spent with them. It also hurts to remember those that had actually cared about me because I don't know if I'll ever see them again and I never even got the chance to say goodbye to them. While I was living alone for the majority of the past two years, it was easier just to ignore birthdays and holidays alike in order to avoid the pain of remembering all that I'd lost. So, when you guys sprang the cake and presents on me tonight it caught me completely off guard."

"It's kind of weird really… now that I think about it. When I first woke up here, I wanted to resent each and every one of you and yet I couldn't quite bring myself to hate you for taking me from my cave. I hated Heero for a long time but that was because he stripped away the last of my innocence when he forced me to see that this world could be just as terrible and frightening as the world I was born into. He taught me that I knew nothing about pain and he made me see just how weak I truly was."

"He also taught me that there could be compassion in this world and I hated him for it even more because I wanted to be allowed to hate him in peace. If I ignore what happened when I first met Heero, I can honestly say that he has treated me far better than the majority of people I knew from my world. All of you have. In fact, from the moment the five of you entered my life, I have been constantly and consistently blindsided by kindness without an ulterior motive. It almost frightens me because that is something I don't think I've ever experienced before and I'm not quite certain of what I'm supposed to do. That's why I left earlier… I just…"

Harry trailed off as he struggled to find the words to explain the churning swarm of confused emotions he'd been feeling from the moment he'd walked into the surprise party that had been arranged on his behalf. Letting out a near silent sigh of frustration, Harry pulled his legs up, dropped his head onto his knees, and closed his eyes as he tried to collect his scattered thoughts. A small part of him drawing comfort from the steady warmth he felt radiating from Quatre's presence as it let him know he wasn't alone.

After a while Harry finished his earlier thought without bothering to open his eyes, "I guess I just don't know what I'm supposed to think or feel any more because everything is so confusing and mixed up."

"I can see why you feel that way, Harry," Quatre murmured softly as he collected Harry's empty mug.

"I feel like I've betrayed my world too… because I feel more at home here than I ever did in the other world."

Quatre didn't say anything in reply and when Harry opened one eye to peek at the blonde he found him taking his violin out of the case. Curious, Harry opened his other eye and sat up a bit as Quatre took the time to tune his instrument. As blonde teen began playing a soft, soothing melody, Harry was vividly reminded of Fawkes the phoenix as the warmth he always felt in Quatre's presence and the delicate notes of the song washed over him; his magic resonating with the music as the maelstrom of emotions that had been plaguing him slowly calmed. Harry's eyes fell closed after a few minutes and the anxiety and confusion he'd been feeling faded as he allowed himself to be caught up in the music.

Eventually, he drifted off to sleep to the sound of Quatre's playing; never noticing when the song ended or when Quatre gently tucked him beneath the covers.

* * *

**Notes:**

* Abdul as Rashid's brother – I doubt this is canonically correct but it seems somewhat logical to me seeing as how Abdul is the second in command of the Maganac. And it would make sense for a number of the Corps to be related through blood as well as through common cause and origins.

*Spawn of the Damned – this is how I wanted the snakes to see the basilisk instead of as the king of serpents or the king of snakes as so many FanFictions do. The reason for this is that the basilisk is not a natural born snake as it is born from a rooster's egg hatched beneath a toad; something that isn't going to happen without intervention and therefore not natural which I think normal snakes and serpents would or maybe should feel disgusted over.

* * *

**AN:** _Well the unpleasantness wasn't as unpleasant today as I had feared it would be and Inspiration struck me enough that I managed to finish the chapter of this story that I'd been stuck upon and now there are only two more chapters until the story is complete (meaning this story will have a total of sixty chapters and close to 500,000 words). Although, if my muse sticks around long enough I might squeak in a few omakes to account for those bits I sort of skimmed over or skipped outright. In the mean time, I'll be updating a little more regularly again (at least once or twice a week) until December 4__th__ when the unpleasantness should be finished one way or another. _

_That said, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I know many of you were hoping to see the reactions of the pilots to Harry's early years but trying to write that out fried my brain back when I first wrote this chapter almost a year ago and figured that they'd take the revelations in stride because of their own troubled pasts. Once I finish the final chapter and the epilogue, that might be one of the omakes I sit down and try to write but I make no promises. _

_Next, a few GW canon purists might be upset about the timing of events since I know most everything in the anime seemed to take place within a span of mere days, weeks, or months while I'm stretching things out a bit more. Part of that is due to Harry's presence (since he technically doesn't belong) and part of it is because I'm not following each and every little side story within the verse as those take place in the shadows so to speak. I will try to cover all of the major events that take place within the GW verse; one of which actually is the focus of the next chapter. _

_Last point I want to make, since I already know I didn't cover it anywhere in the story and fitting it in somewhere has been impossible without making things choppy, is Harry's reaction to Quatre (and to a lesser degree the suits) since I hinted at it briefly in this chapter. Harry is not and will not be an empath or have any degree of magical empathy in this story; his magic is merely resonating with the little bit of magic he feels since he's been alone for so long without any thing remotely magical around him aside from the things Sirius sent with him. _

_You could say he's become sensitive to the presence of magic and because Quatre has slightly more than the other four pilots, Harry feels closer to him. The comparison to Fawkes was intentional as well as I can see phoenixes being empathetic creatures due to their ability to instill hope with their songs. And the reason Harry can't deny Quatre is simply because he doesn't wish to anger or upset the empath since he is aware of the sensitivity all empaths are subject to due to their close connections with everyone's emotions. There's also the fact that he knows he's living in Quatre's house and Harry is well mannered enough to know you don't step on the toes of your host least you wind up getting booted out. =)_

_Anywho, next chapter should be out later this week if all goes as planned and will have far more action in it as well as the introduction of a couple of main supporting actors in the GW verse. ~ Jenn_


	17. Revised Self-Destruct Sequence

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 16: Revised Self-Destruct Sequence

Five months after the New Edwards Mission to rescue the delegates of the peace conference, roughly six weeks after Harry's birthday party, another urgent mission came through for all five pilots. OZ had built more of the Taurus mobile suits and was shipping them up to their facility in Siberia with the plans to upgrade their systems. According to the mission brief, they were sending the suits along one of two planned routes across the Arabian Peninsula; by train or by air with one route a decoy in order to throw the Gundams off target because they expected the shipments to be attacked.

After researching the new mission, it was decided that Heero and Trowa would go after the carriers, Duo and Quatre would attack the train, and Wufei would head to the Siberian base in the event that the shipment containing the suits managed to slip through. Originally, the five pilots had planned on leaving Harry behind at the estate in order to protect him. Harry, unfortunately, had other plans; which Heero discovered when he climbed up into Wing's cockpit to find Harry already dressed in his flight suit and strapped into the passenger seat that all five Gundams now sported.

"You're not supposed to be here," Heero stated the moment he saw Harry sitting there.

"I refuse to be left behind," Harry countered. "I'm not an idiot; I'm well aware that the decoy shipment is most likely a trap that OZ plans to spring in the hopes of capturing one or more of the Gundams. Quatre and Duo both have the Maganacs to back them up if anything goes wrong when they attack the train shipment while you and Trowa are left to your own devices. Which means the two of you could use an ace up your sleeve; which is exactly why I'm going with you. With both of your suits now protected by my wards I can potentially use my magic to disable enemy suits to reduce the numbers you are forced to face to more manageable levels; if necessary."

"You will do exactly what I say or this will be the last time you go with us on a mission," Heero instructed as he settled into his chair and began engaging Wing's systems.

"I always do exactly what you tell me, Heero; you left me little choice in the matter, remember?" Harry snorted in reply as he slipped on his radio headset and turned it on (studiously ignoring the handful of times when he'd rebelled against his oath and Heero's orders). "Although, if you insist on doing something incredibly stupid during the course of the mission in order to get out of keeping up your end of our deal; I will stun your ass and haul you back here for a thorough hexing."

"_I see you located our wayward charge,_" Trowa's voice stated through the comm. unit as Heero turned on Wing's systems.

"Yeah, seems someone didn't take too kindly to the idea of being left behind," Heero replied as he triggered Wing's transformation into flight mode as he exited the underground hanger.

"_He has been known ta be exceedin'ly stubborn,_" Duo interjected with a laugh.

"He is also listening," Harry dryly reminded Duo to the amusement of all five teenaged pilots and the Maganac that were listening in on the conversation.

"_Be careful out there,_" Quatre admonished as the five Gundams split into three groups and headed to their assigned destinations.

Harry remained silent during the flight, his full attention focused on his laptop (which he'd stuck to the back of the pilot's chair with a sticking charm) as he read through the data that Wufei had collected regarding their mission. He'd just about finished when they caught up to the carrier transports that were potentially carrying the Taurus suits and Harry pulled his eyes from his laptop to read the information that Wing's scanners were displaying on the monitors. Even as they skimmed through the information being provided by the scanners, the carriers began disgorging a hundred Aries suits into the air.

"_Zero-Two here; ground transport has been confirmed as da decoy,_" Duo announced as Heero began firing at the suits that were charging them.

"_Negative, both transports were decoys,_" Trowa interjected as he joined in the fight, firing at the suits from the ground with the Beam Gatling Gun that doubled as a left arm.

"Damn it, they intended to separate us and pin us down with the two decoys while the true transport went undisclosed," Heero cursed as he corkscrewed in order to avoid getting hit even as he fired on the enemy in return.

"There are another twelve carries closing on our location from the south," Harry added as he tapped into Wing's long range scanners through his laptop since Heero was too busy fighting to monitor the rest of the sky. "There's also sign of fifty Leos and a dozen heavy tanks moving in on ground level, Zero-Three."

"They intend to box us in and shoot us down," Heero surmised as he dropped into a nose dive and before pulling up and making a hard right to bring him around to face the next wave of Aries that were hounding them.

"They won't have an easy time knocking us out of the sky," Harry murmured after muzzling the microphone on his radio. "I added protective spells to all of the suits I've warded to date; the underlying properties of the Gundams making the spells woven into the armor especially effective. Unless they have something more powerful than your beam cannon, than we should be fine; no matter what they hit us with."

"Zero-Five, be advised that the shipment will be heading your way unimpeded since they are trying to overwhelm us here in order to prevent us from intervening there," Harry stated as he returned to his self given job of keeping all five pilots updated with everything that is going on. "Zero-Four and Zero-Two; satellite feeds indicate an additional eight carriers in route to your location along with a second train that is potentially holding more enemy suits."

"_Zero-One, my scanners indicate a fast approaching object larger than an Aries and headed directly for you,_" Trowa announced from the ground as he moved to intercept the Leos and tanks that were pouring out of the wood work.

"Roger that, Zero-Three," Heero replied as he dropped down and switched Wing over to suit form so he could bring the beam cannon into play. "Half-Pint, lock the scanners onto the new player and give me a read out."

"That code-name is going to have to go or someone is going to get hurt," Harry groused even as he complied with the order and quickly began analyzing their new opponent. "Merlin's rotten crotch… I gotta bad feeling about this… that thing is at least a meter taller than Wing, weighs over a ton more, and is packing some serious fire power. It's also faster and shit… it's already here."

Even as Harry finished his rather short and unprofessional report, the larger suit plowed into them and before they even had time to employ any counter measures they were driven into the ground from the sheer force of the impact. Harry's head ended up slamming into the monitor of his laptop before they came to a stop and Harry briefly wished he'd worn his helmet as he sat back and wiped blood out of his eyes from the cut across his brow as he eyed the now ruined laptop through cracked lenses; the screen and his glasses having been cracked when he smacked his skull on it because Harry had only warded the outer case not the inside (an oversight on his part) and he'd not thought to protect his glasses.

"You alright back there, kid?" Heero asked as he maneuvered the mobile suit up onto its feet and began running the internal diagnostics to determine how much damage that suit had taken when they crashed while watching the monitors for any sign of their enemy; the larger suit having disengaged before they'd recovered from the jolt of being slammed into the ground.

"Yeah… I'll be fine but both my glasses and my laptop are busted."

"The laptop and the glasses can be replaced, brat," Heero barked out. "Brace yourself!"

They were slammed back a second time as the large suit dropped down on them from above for a second time and the beam cannon was lost as the other suit ripped it from Wing's right hand and tossed it away. The other suit then activated a beam saber and settled into the ready position as if the pilot of the other suit wished to have a fencing competition instead of a battle.

"_We have no need for beam rifles or cannons between us,*_" the pilot of the other suit declared loudly.

"Oh, wow, and to think Snivellus used to say I was an arrogant prick," Harry drawled loud enough for Wing's communications system to pick up his voice and relay it to the outside speakers. "I don't know which is bigger, your ego or your need to compensate for that which you lack, mate." Harry then leaned around the chair as he watched Heero activating Wing's beam saber before whispering, "You aren't seriously going to give him what he wants, are you?"

"I don't have much of a choice; he's faster in the air than Wing and in order to face him on the ground I have to use what weapons I have available since he stripped Wing of the beam cannon," Heero murmured back as he settled Wing into a defensive stance. "Just hang on tight and try not to taunt him again."

"_Brave words from a pilot whose inferiority complex appears to be just as large as the one you claim I have,_" the other pilot mockingly called back. "_Let's see if you can face me any better than you did the first time we crossed paths several months back. I must say, I was shocked when I learned you'd survived that plunge into the ocean._"

"As I recall, you turned tail the moment it became clear that you were outclassed; just what one could expect from a coward like you," Heero countered as the other pilot attacked. Heero's blade easily intercepted the enemy's blade and the two enormous suits began dancing back and forth as their swords clashed again and again.

"I thought the idea was not to taunt him?" Harry groused as he braced both hands against Heero's seat in order to prevent his head from hitting his ruined laptop a second time.

Heero didn't bother to respond, leaving Harry to mutter several uncomplimentary remarks under his breath as he was bounced around throughout the battle; all the while wondering if maybe he shouldn't have joined Trowa in Heavyarms instead since it seemed like Heero's luck was about as good as Harry's own when it came to finding trouble. At least he'd had the opportunity to add the protective wards and spells to the suits otherwise Harry was certain this battle would have been far riskier. He considered attempting to short out the other suit with his wand but because of the way he was being tossed about, he feared that his wand would be snapped before he could fire off a powerful enough spell that would pass through Wing's armor and still retain enough power to shut down the other suit.

A glance up at the long range scanners showed Trowa continuing to deal with the smaller ground units in addition to the Aries suits that were no longer targeting Wing. Even as he watched, Heavyarms took several hard hits from behind and Harry's heart rose up in his throat as the Gundam disappeared beneath the explosions until the air cleared and Heavyarms reappeared looking virtually unharmed aside from a few scotch marks.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Harry turned his attention back to the front three monitor where Heero's opponent was pictured in time to see the taller suit jump backwards before unexpectedly stopping as a news broadcast was suddenly playing across the right monitor. All battles ceased as the Gundams listened to the woman on the screen announcing OZ's successful seizure of the Alliance's missile satellites spread throughout the galaxy, revealing that the weapon satellites were now targeting all five Colonies in addition to several space stations. She then ordered the pilots to immediately stand down and surrender while threatening to destroy the Colonies should the pilots refuse.

"_Damn it, what a dirty, rotten underhanded trick,_" Duo proclaimed irately across the radio.

"_It sounds like one of their usual bluffs,_" Trowa commented next.

"_It's no bluff this time,_" Wufei interjected as he patched through the feed from a remote satellites that showed the missile satellites arming their missiles and preparing to launch an attack.

"_They intend to hold the Colonies hostage to buy our cooperation,_" Quatre added in a shaky voice filled with both worry and disgust.

There were only a few minutes of grim silence after the woman announced her ultimatum when the broadcast was suddenly taken over by an old man with long gray hair and a huge mustache that was wearing odd robotic glasses and had a robotic hook for his left hand. Harry took one look at the man and shuddered as he felt dread pool in his belly. He gasped softly when Heero muttered out a soft, "Dr. J," in recognition of the man. Harry looked at the man with new understanding as he immediately realized that the man appearing on the screen was the scientist that had sent Heero to Earth once Heero had named the man (Harry having previously only heard the names of the five scientists and not seen any videos or pictures of them – an attempt by the pilots to protect the wizard from the scientists).

Harry listened as the man called OZ heartless for threatening the Colonies who were not actually fighting against OZ before declaring that he had no choice but to surrender in order to protect the Colonies from OZ. The man went on to say that he would surrender but that he'd never hand over the Gundams. Heero immediately began unbuckling his harness and the knot of dread in Harry's stomach grew larger as he glanced between the old man on the monitor and Heero.

"Harry, do you have your broom and that fancy cloak of yours that makes you invisible with you?" Heero asked as he turned around to face Harry with determined and regretful blue eyes.

"Yeah… but what do I need them for, Heero? What are you going to do?"

"I want you to climb on your broom and throw that cloak over your body. When I open the door you are to fly out of here and get to Barton. He will take care of you."

"Heero… what are you going to do?" Harry demanded a second time as he clutched at his harness and stared up at Heero with uncertainty.

"I have one last mission to complete and I promised I would never let anything happen to you," Heero replied as he stepped forward and unbuckled Harry's harness despite Harry's attempts to stop him. Harry then watched as Heero began reconnecting the wiring to what he knew was the Gundam's self-destruct device (thanks to all of the lessons he'd been given about the inner workings of the Gundams) and he suddenly knew exactly what Heero was going to do.

"Oh, hell no, you aren't," Harry hissed venomously as he whipped out his wand and stunned Heero in the back. "I told you that you aren't allowed to die for me and that means you aren't allowed to die for the Colonies either. Not like this… not by committing suicide because of some stupid manipulative old geezer."

Angry now, Harry levitated Heero back into the pilot's chair and strapped him in before digging out his cloak and covering the unconscious pilot with it so that he wouldn't be seen. He took a moment to disengage the beam sword and after a brief moment of consideration released the suit's shield so that it fell on the ground at the suit's feet. He then pulled out his broom and returned it to full size before using the disillusionment charm that he'd recently learned to hide it from view.

He glared at Heero's unseen body one last time before he turned and opened the door to the cockpit and stepped out onto the ramp with his hidden Firebolt held firmly at his left side and his wand hidden behind his right leg. He glared across the distance at the pilot in the other suit, even though he couldn't see the man's face, before he peered around towards where Trowa was shifting Heavyarms around so he could look in the direction of Wing and Harry guessed that someone had just thrown his face up on the view screens via satellite camera.

"Mission accepted," Harry declared loudly before muttering a soft, "not," under his breath as he slashed his wand upwards and snapped his wrist sharply as he poured his magic into the wand while incanting, "_Lumos Solem Maxima!_"

Bright white light erupted from Harry's wand with the power of a small sun and completely obliterated Wing from view. Harry then silenced the Gundam's engines before casting one final spell on the suit; turning the Gundam into a portkey that would take Heero back to the underground hanger on the Winner Estate. Before the light from his spell could begin fading, Harry jumped on his broom and activated the portkey even as he threw one of his knives so that it would hit the button to close the door hilt first.

He then cast three rapid and powerful Finite Incantatem Charms at the shield that had been left behind to remove the protective spells that had been added to the shield. Now that Wing was no longer in the way and he had an adequate decoy, Harry cast an Engorgement Charm on the shield and gathered his magic for one last spectacular spell. The light from his powerful illumination spell had only just begun fading as Harry cried out one last incantation, "_Deprimo Maxima!_"

Like the day he demonstrated the powerful blasting curse to Heero, Harry poured all of his hate and anger into the spell as it left his wand. Unlike that day, he poured far more power into the spell (his current reserves no where near as depleted as they had been on that long ago day) and as it struck the enlarged shield it shattered the Gundanium construct into millions of pieces and tore through several dozen meters of earth as well. The blast sent out a shockwave of debris that covered a forty mile radius even as the force of the blast buffeted Harry upon his tiny broom. The outward backlash of uncontrolled magic that followed on the heels of the blast short circuited the suit that Heero had been fighting in addition to dozens of the suits, tanks, and airplanes that Trowa had been facing as it swept outwards and upwards (those caught in midair crashing down to the ground and in a few cases exploding on impact).

Exhaustion set in immediately and Harry slipped sideways off his broom, barely managing to keep one hand on the handle as he fumbled to tuck away his wand before he dropped it and lost it forever or worse broke it. With his magical core drained, Harry retained no control over his broom or the flight charms that normally would have kept it in the air despite his precarious grasp on the handle and only the small amount of wind resistance the broom and his body created slowed his downward plunge.

Even though he'd not been that far up in the air, Harry still hit the ground hard; breaking his left leg in two places, breaking his left elbow and splitting the humorous half lengthwise for several inches, and dislocating his left shoulder before he tumbled further down into the crater he'd created just seconds earlier (the teen foolishly protecting the broom his godfather had given him instead of himself). He also ended up with a concussion as the back of his head hit more than one rock as he rolled down to the bottom of the crater. Harry groaned weakly as he finally came to a stop and he closed his eyes as his entire body exploded with pain on top of the dizziness and nausea he felt due to the concussion.

He felt absolutely miserable but was still far too angry with Heero over the other teen's plan to commit suicide by destroying the Gundam to allow the pain to cloud his mind. His mind was too busy raging over the fact that Heero had not bothered to consider how demoralized the other pilots would have been to lose him in such a way. Harry's anger, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that he'd grown to consider the other teen an annoying brother of sorts; helped in part by the charade that Heero had carried out while they were still in the company of Relena Darlian (and on a handful of other occasions) and the brotherly attitude the blue-eyed pilot had adopted at some point after he had woken up at the Winner Estate (especially when he was teaching Harry how to use a computer or pilot the mobile suits).

"Why?"

Wrenching his eyes opens with great difficulty, Harry looked up through his cracked lenses into the masked face of what he assumed must be the pilot of the other suit and he felt old anger and fears warring inside of him as he was sharply reminded of the masked Death Eaters he'd seen in the graveyard after Voldemort's rebirth. Determination filled Harry as he glared hard at the older man who'd sought to harm Heero to appease his ego and he tightened his hold on his unseen broom as he felt the ground shake lightly under the approach of what could only be a mobile suit.

"Someone like you couldn't possibly understand," Harry answered hoarsely as he coughed up a bit of blood.

Before the man could reply, Heavyarms reached down and lifted Harry from the ground as the masked pilot scrambled backwards to avoid being crushed. Harry closed his eyes as the comforting warmth of the Gundam engulfed him and he allowed himself to finally sink into oblivion to escape the pain as Trowa carried his broken body away from the battlefield.

* * *

Heero woke up with a start and stared at the ceiling above his bed in confusion for a long minute before he slowly sat up and glanced around his assigned room at the Winner Estate. He was utterly confused on how he'd gotten into bed since the last thing he remembered was working on reconnecting the self-destruct mechanism in Wing while ordering Harry to fly to Trowa. Everything after that was a complete blank and he had no idea if he'd managed to destroy the Gundam or what exactly had happened to Harry. The door to his room opened and Heero instinctively reached for his gun as he snapped his head around to identify the intruder only to abort the move before his hand reached his pistol as he recognized Quatre.

"Ah, good, you are awake," Quatre declared. "We were beginning to get worried since we had no idea just how long you had been unconscious when we first found you or even why you were unconscious in the first place since you didn't have any visible injuries and showed no signs of waking for the past two days."

"What happened? How did I get back here? What happened to my Gundam and where is Harry?"

"We don't know what happened exactly since as far as we knew you'd self-destructed in front of the entire world on the orders of Dr. J," Quatre replied as he stopped beside the bed and crossed his arms as he half glared down at Heero. "I'm half tempted to toss you out on your ear after that stunt you pulled. We all watched what we thought was your Gundam detonating and saw Harry caught in the backlash after he'd stepped out of the cockpit. I don't know why you had him pretend to be the pilot but you could have at least waited to do whatever it was you did that caused the explosion until he was clear. You can well imagine my surprise when we got back here and found your Gundam haphazardly sprawled inside of the hanger looking no worse for wear and you unresponsive, unhurt, and half hidden beneath Harry's invisibility cloak inside."

"That damned sneaky little… he knocked me out. I had told him to fly out under his cloak when I opened the door and get to Trowa so he would be safe and I was going to reconnect the self-destruct mechanism to carry out Dr. J's final order. Only, Harry must have hit me with a spell from behind because I can't remember anything after that," Heero growled as he reached up and pulled on his hair in frustration. "I would have never risked Harry getting hurt, not after… not again… whatever happened to cause whatever explosion you saw was all Harry's doing. Where is he? Why didn't you ask him what happened? You said he was caught in the explosion, is he alright?"

"I don't know where Trowa took him," Quatre answered after staring intently at Heero for several minutes. "Nor do I know the full extent of the injuries he suffered as a result of the explosion. We split up after we believed you to have self destructed and agreed to a radio silence for at least a month to avoid our locations being compromised. Trowa said he looked pretty bad and had lost a lot of blood though."

"Damn it… he wasn't supposed to get hurt."

"He was nearly captured by OZ after the explosion."

"What!?"

"That pilot you were fighting? It was Zechs Merquise and Trowa pulled Harry out from under the man's nose after he'd exited his suit in order to either capture or execute Harry. If the man's suit hadn't malfunctioned in the backlash that Harry released, which we thought was him trying to save himself from the explosion at the time, I'm not certain Trowa would have been able to stop Merquise from taking Harry first."

"Damn it."

"Yeah, that was pretty much our reaction as well. If they even suspect that he survived, you can bet they're going to be hunting for him now since his face has been linked to your Gundam in your stead."

"I should have kicked him out of my Gundam when I found him in the cockpit before we left."

"He probably would have followed us on his broom even if you had," Quatre tiredly pointed out as the last of his anger fled. "He was determined to go with us one way or another. Yu… Heero… why? Why were you willing to…?"

"To protect the Colonies," Heero replied. "If OZ had gotten a hold of even just one Gundam… especially considering the upgrades Harry added… bad enough that they've taken over the Alliance's resources in space and conquered more than half of Earth. When did things get turned all around, Quatre?"

"Long before we were born, I think," Quatre replied softly.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait. They've taken the Gundams out of the picture and tied our hands. There's nothing else we can do but be prepared for the day when we can take up arms again."

"You said the radio silence was just for a month, right?"

"At least a month… unless they run into problems during that time and are forced to dig themselves in deeper in order to escape pursuit. The others will most likely try to make their way here about that time instead of contacting us though; providing they don't end up in trouble."

Heero flopped back down onto his pillow and stared up at the ceiling, his mind running through everything that had happened and the possible scenarios that would play out as a result of Harry faking the destruction of Wing. He never noticed when Quatre left him alone as he was too wrapped up in his guilt and the frustration he felt over the way things had turned out.

* * *

**Notes:**

* Slightly edited quote by Zechs Merquise from the English subbed Japanese version of Gundam Wing Episode 10; Heero, Distracted by Defeat.

* * *

**AN:** _A rather short chapter, I know, but I didn't want anything else to detract from the entire self-destruct sequence as this is a huge turning point for the entire story but especially for Harry and the pilots. Hopefully, I did justice to the rather short and furious battle as this chapter simply flowed from my keyboard like water from a glass when I first wrote it and other than cleaning up my grammar and spelling, I didn't really add much when I edited it. _

_So anyway, Harry has now gotten a glimpse of Une, Zechs, and Dr. J and his face has been thrown out to the world at large. He's also displayed his typical Gryffindorish behavior instead of allowing Heero to take the fall and we see that he still tends to place the lives and feelings of others above those of his own and that he is willing to protect his precious mementos from his past life at the expense of himself (something we'd already known because of how he'd reacted to Sirius's bike getting clipped a few chapters back).  
_

_Some of you might wonder why I didn't have Harry slip into Trowa's Gundam instead of Heero's since it was noted in the last chapter that Harry preferred to sleep in Heavyarms; there are three reasons for that. First, Harry feared that if he climbed into any other suit that Heero would order him out and then he'd be left behind while if he was in Heero's he could at least argue his right to go face to face. Secondly, Harry knows Wing is capable of flight and we all know how much Harry loves to fly; so really, it was the obvious choice even if he would have felt more comfortable in Heavyarms._

_The last reason was more of a personal preference in that I didn't want Harry to have to suffer the emotional distress of seeing Heero self-destruct in front of him while he was unable to do anything about it; especially now that he's just starting to accept and trust the other teen. _

_That said, the next chapter will focus on Harry (and therefore on Trowa) and how his stunt will have affected him. I'll try to have it up before the end of the weekend since this chapter leaves things kind of hanging but I make no , __and did you notice that Heero is finally on first name terms with someone other than Harry - he's been rather stubborn about that up to this point and he'll probably slip up a few times here and there. _  


_For those of you who have not received answers to the questions you asked in your reviews; I'm not ignoring you. I didn't answer because the questions will be answered within the story over the next handful of chapters and I didn't want to give away any spoilers. _

_As a thank you to all my reviewers, I have three different kinds of cake here; chocolate, marble, and spice. I had pies too but a trio of sneaky individuals hit me with the forbidden pout technique combined with a compulsion spell and now I have no more pies. There is at least ice cream to go with the cake. Can't have cake without ice cream… I have plenty of different flavors so pick what you want. =) ENJOY! ~ Jenn_


	18. Life in the Circus

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 17: Life in the Circus

The sound of a door opening and closing pulled Harry from a deep sleep bordering on unconsciousness. Having no idea where he was or who it was that had just entered the room he was being held in, he held himself still and kept his eyes closed as he listened to the soft footsteps crossing the floor. A moment later, an unfamiliar woman's voice filled the room and Harry nearly flinched in panic as he began to fear the worst; his memories of what had happened during the mission fuzzy at best.

"I thought I would find you in here again; how is he doing?"

"Better, now that he's just sleeping instead of remaining unconscious," Trowa's familiar voice replied and Harry relaxed minutely as the presence of the green eyed teen eased his fear just the tiniest bit.

"I never would have guessed you had a little brother," the woman remarked casually. "Is he the reason why you quit so soon after you were hired?"

"I never expected to find a little brother when I first came to Earth," Trowa replied as someone reached out and adjusted the blankets covering Harry (the wizard praying that it was Trowa and not the unknown woman). "And yes, I quit the circus because my little brother needed someone to watch out for him. It seems he is a rather large trouble magnet; in case you didn't already guess. I really appreciate you allowing us to stay with you while he heals."

"Not my fault this time; Heero was being stupid," Harry rasped out to the shock of the two observing him as he finally opened his eyes; unable to let the remark about him being a trouble magnet pass unremarked upon.

"Oh, his eyes are green just like yours," the young woman exclaimed softly and Harry turned his head just enough to take in her brown, wavy hair, violet eyes that shone with kindness and curiosity, and a lithe form dressed in a pink shirt and brown slacks. "I honestly didn't think he was really your little brother because he looks nothing like you but there is no denying the fact that you both have gorgeous green eyes."

"How are you feeling, Harry? And how much pain are you in right now?" Trowa asked, drawing Harry's attention back to the pilot.

"I feel like I got hit by a speeding train before being run over by a herd of rampaging hippo…s" Harry replied as he closed his eyes and assessed his body for a moment; unconsciously censoring his mouth at the last moment. "My left leg hurts, my left arm hurts, my left shoulder hurts, my head hurts, and I feel like one big bruise. However, don't you even think of sticking me with another needle or I'll give you the cursing of a lifetime right after I give Heero a piece of my mind."

"All I have are some over the counter pain killers," Trowa stated with his almost smile as he leaned forward and helped Harry to sit up (the wizard having trouble doing so himself due to the pain and the casts he only just now noticed on his left arm and leg) before pulling out a bottle of aspirin and shaking out a couple of capsules that he handed to Harry. "I know they won't help much but they should take the edge off the pain enough for you to eat a little something and allow you to sleep a little easier."

"Thanks," Harry murmured as he popped both pills in his mouth before accepting the glass of water the woman held out to him. The water felt like heaven on his parched throat and he greedily drank down the entire glass before leaning back against the pillow Trowa had propped him up against with a soft sigh. He then glanced at the woman again, curious to know who she was and how she knew Trowa.

"Harry, this young woman is my friend and former co-worker, Catherine Bloom," Trowa introduced when he noticed Harry openly studying the woman. "Cathy, this is Harry Barton, my little brother. Cathy has been kind enough to allow us to stay with her while you recover from your fall."

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, young man," Cathy stated with a smile as she reached out to briefly squeeze Harry's hand.

Harry blushed and ducked his head nervously as he bit his lip in uncertainty and slipped his hand free; never really knowing how to behave around pretty girls (especially those of the non-fan-girl type) and feeling slightly uncomfortable with the physical contact that he hadn't been able to avoid.

"You'll have to forgive my brother; he's rather shy when it comes to meeting new people."

"That's alright, we have plenty of time to get to know one another while the two of you are here," Cathy assured Trowa even as she gave Harry's hand a gentle pat. The young woman then turned to face Trowa before continuing on in a slightly hesitant tone, "I really hate to bother you knowing that you're brother finally woke up but would you be willing to perform in tonight's show? The ringmaster wanted me to ask you again because we're still short one clown; having been unable to find a suitable replacement since you quit a few months back."

"I don't know… I'm not certain I'd feel comfortable leaving Harry by himself in his current condition."

"So long as you promise to come back; I'll be fine on my own," Harry bluntly stated as he looked up at Trowa; still more than a little uncomfortable with the concept of someone hovering over him out of concern for his health just because he'd gotten a little banged up. "S'not like I'm going to go anywhere."

After giving Harry a searching look, Trowa reluctantly agreed to take part in the evening's performance and Cathy flashed them both another of her dazzling smiles. She spent a few more minutes discussing the coming performance before taking her leave so that Trowa and Harry could have a few minutes of privacy. Harry watched her go before turning to face Trowa once more.

"How long have we been here, how bad were my injuries, how much longer do you think we'll need to stay, and do you happen to know what happened to my broom and my wand?"

"You've been unconscious for nearly a week and a half, though we've only been here a couple of days as I needed to treat your injuries immediately," Trowa replied as he leaned forward. "You'd taken a pretty nasty hit on the head in addition to breaking your left leg and arm and dislocating your left shoulder. That's not even counting all of the bruises you picked up when you fell or the severe exhaustion you experienced based upon the amount of magic I sensed rushing passed me after the explosion. You also lost a considerable amount of blood. We'll be here for at least another two weeks if not longer; regardless of how quickly your injuries heal because of everything that happened after Heero self-destructed. Your broom is in Heavyarms because I didn't want anyone seeing it once the spell hiding it wore off and I have your wand here."

"I'm sorry you had to go through so much trouble, Trowa. I didn't expect to get caught up in the backlash from my spell and I lost control of my broom because I was exhausted and hit the ground harder than I expected because I had no way to slow myself down. What happened to the others?"

"We split up after what happened, each of us going to ground in different locations. We also agreed to a complete radio silence for one month at which time we'll make our way back to the Estate and determine what we're going to do now that there are only four of us."

"Heero's alive, Trowa," Harry murmured as he accepted his wand back and rolled it back and forth between his hands while checking to see if it had been damaged when he hit the ground before using it to fix his broken glasses after Trowa passed them to him. He then cast a general diagnostic spell over his left leg and left arm to determine the severity of his injuries as he continued, "He was going to reconnect the self-destruct device and kick me out of Wing; I stunned him before he could. I then sent him back to the underground hanger and faked the destruction of the Gundam. He'd have been out for at least eight or ten hours, possibly longer, because I was angry with him at the time and poured more into the spell that I normally would. He's probably more than a little upset with me right about now."

"You staged that entire show? I thought Heero used you as a distraction so he could destroy the Gundam and get you to safety. If I had known he was alive at the time I think I might have hunted him down and punched him for putting you at risk like that."

"I wasn't about to let him allow some old and manipulative brain-dead geezer to bully him into committing suicide," Harry hissed out vehemently as he leaned forward to pin Trowa with eyes that turned cold and hard. "None of you are allowed to die and leave me alone. I refuse to be left alone again."

Trowa looked gob smacked at Harry's declaration and Harry held his eyes for a full minute before he huffed and settled back against the pillow once more as he groused, "You nosy brats inserted yourselves into my life without so much as a by-your-leave. Then you have all taken to introducing me as your little brother whenever we end up around other people and we need a cover. Not to mention that you've all been treating me like I imagine one would treat a little brother when you each spent time teaching me things for the last several months. And now that I've grown attached to you all despite my best efforts to avoid said attachment; you honestly think I'm going to willingly let you rip yourselves from my life if I can prevent it?"

"I had no idea that you felt that way," Trowa replied with a small measure of astonishment.

"Yeah, well I had no idea I felt that way either until faced with Heero's stupidity and you can bet your arse I'm going to make Heero pay for the stunt he tried to pull. I've half a mind to transfigure him into a mouse and let Seth terrorize him for a couple of hours."

"Remind me never to piss you off," Trowa replied with the first real smile Harry had ever seen him wear, small though it was.

Harry snorted and dug out the leather cord that Duo had given to him so he could carry his magical trunks around with him without worrying about them getting lost if he lost his clothes for any reason. He then tapped his supply trunk with his wand to return it to full size as he held the necklace out over the side of the bed. The trunk landed with a soft thump when Harry let go of the cord as he asked, "Can you carry me down inside so I can grab something to help me heal faster and deal with the pain?"

Trowa took a moment to lock the door before he lifted Harry out of the bed and carried him down into the now open trunk. Like Heero on his first trip into the trunk, the taller teen was more than a little shocked to discover a well stocked supply room inside of the trunk. Harry calmly directed Trowa towards the potions section and spent a minute sifting through the various vials until he found the ones he needed; grabbing a fairly strong pain relieving potion, a weak sleeping potion, the Bone-Knit Potion (his breaks mending cleanly and thankfully not quite serious enough that he needed to regrow any bones), a Rejuvenating Potion (since he still felt slightly drained magically – his magic having been focused on healing his injuries), and a general healing potion that would help take care of any internal injuries.

He also grabbed a change of clothes for when he could finally get up out of bed on his own and an extra pillow to prop his leg up for the night. Once they exited the trunk, Harry dumped everything on the bed before switching the supply trunk for the trunk holding his perishable supplies. If the supply trunk had been an impressive show of magic, it was nothing when compared to the trunk packed with food.

There were dozens of shelves packed with all kinds of canned and preserved food, a refrigerated section packed with fresh produce magically stored in stasis alongside a huge selection of cold drinks, a freezer section holding an assortment of frozen foods and goods (including ice cream), and there was an old fashioned kitchen complete with a sink, oven, and a stove (all powered by runes). Harry grabbed a bottle of butterbeer for Trowa and two of bottles of water for himself before grabbing a loaf of bread, the margarine, a pack of sliced cheese, and two cans of tomato soup after a short debate with Trowa over supper.

Back up in the trailer they were sharing with Cathy, Trowa tucked Harry back into the bed and placed the leather cord of shrunken trunks back over his head (once the trunk had been returned to the size of a matchbook) before gathering up the food to start supper. As Trowa headed towards the kitchen, Harry drank the general healing potion, the pain relieving potion, and the Rejuvenating Potion; leaving both the Bone-Knit Potion and the sleeping potion for after he'd eaten. He then washed away the foul aftertaste of the potions from his mouth with one of the waters he'd grabbed before sitting back with a soft sigh of relief as the pain relieving potion soon numbed his entire body.

When Trowa returned nearly forty-five minutes later, he was wearing a clown costume that consisted of a blue and white checked shirt, baggy green pants with yellow stars, yellow suspenders, a yellow ruff, and a ceramic mask that covered half of his face. Walking in right behind him, carrying a tray, was Cathy wearing a pink, maroon, and purple knee length dress with a gold sash tied around her waist, pink stockings, maroon heels, green star earrings, and two white feathers in her hair. Harry discreetly tucked his empty potion bottles and his two remaining potions beneath the blanket along with his wand as he pulled the extra pillow up onto his lap when he noted the tray in Cathy's hands.

"I must say, I think you are the best thing to happen to your big brother, Harry," Cathy declared catching both Harry and Trowa off guard as she breezed across the room and settled the tray on Harry's lap before sitting down on the bed beside him. "He was always so cold and distant when I first met him and these past few days it was like he was a completely different person as he hovered by your side day and night. To think I found him in the kitchen a little while ago making supper when before he'd just grab whatever was laying around if he bothered to eat at all. You must be a wizard if you managed to bring him out of his shell in such a short time."

Harry choked on the bite he'd just taken from the half of grilled cheese sandwich that had been on the tray the moment Cathy called him a wizard. The irony of that declaration was not lost on the pint-sized teen and he fought to contain the sudden flurry of hysterical giggles he felt bubbling up inside of him.

"You have no idea," Trowa deadpanned which only caused Harry's giggles to burst forth as he slapped his right hand over his mouth, his green eyes dancing in merriment as Cathy glanced between the two boys in confusion. "The way he attracts trouble is almost magical."

Harry snorted once he got his laughter under control and rolled his eyes as he took a drink of water to wash down the bite he'd finally swallowed. He then snorted a second time as he started on the soup; a grin still playing about his lips.

"We have about twenty-five minutes before we're due in the ring," Cathy announced after smiling and shaking her head at their antics. "Is there something I can get for you to help pass the time while your brother is helping me with my act?"

"I don't want to be a bother," Harry replied automatically between bites. "I'll probably just sleep once the two of you leave since I am not in quite so much pain now."

"Oh, sweetie; I doubt you could be a bother if you tried," Cathy chided with another smile (prompting Trowa to snort in disbelief and amusement this time and Harry stuck his tongue out at the green eyed pilot in response). "How about I bring you a couple of books just in case you can't sleep and find yourself bored? I have a couple of books on magic tricks and another on card tricks that you might find fun."

"Not a word," Harry whispered furiously as soon as she vanished through the door without waiting for Harry to answer her. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you put her up to it."

"Maxwell is the prankster in our group, not me," Trowa dryly pointed out with another small smile. "But you have to admit it is kind of funny and more than a little ironic, considering…"

Before Harry could reply, Cathy was back with the promised books and Harry gave her a small smile as he thanked her for them. She left again a few minutes later, to finish getting ready, leaving Harry to finish his supper while Trowa quietly asked if the potions were working (they were) and if he needed anything else before he had to go (no). Ten minutes later, Harry was left alone in the trailer as Cathy and Trowa headed to the main tent while Harry snuggled down in the bed, took his remaining potions, and idly flipped through the card trick book before the sleeping potion slowly pulled him under.

Harry spent the next three days in bed (for appearance's sake). He probably would have been bored out of his mind if not for Trowa's and Cathy's constant presence between performances as the young woman mothered both teens. It was a decidedly odd experience for Harry as she was nothing like Aunt Petunia or Mrs. Weasley; both of whom were far more domineering than mothering in their methods. She always kept Harry company whenever Trowa had to step out for a bit, made certain Harry had plenty to keep him busy on the nights when Trowa performed, and took the time to ask him how he was feeling. She even helped him learn and practice the various card tricks from the book she'd let him borrow.

Once he was allowed up out of bed, Harry hobbled around on crutches for two days before he grew annoyed with the pretense of still being on the mend; Trowa did make him keep the casts on for another three days after that though. The pilot had also helped Harry make a holster of sorts for his wand so that Harry could keep it close at hand without worrying about someone seeing it. Harry grumbled but for the most part didn't really care so long as he didn't have to deal with the crutches because they were awkward and left him off balance.

Now that he was up and about, Harry spent his free time wandering through the circus during the daylight hours with wide eyes as he'd never been to a circus before. He was fascinated by the various performers and would often watch them practice their acts. When he wasn't doing that, he would visit the various animals and ended up making a friend of the lavender albino reticulated python that the circus kept.

Harry actually caused quite a panic the first time he was found inside the python's cage by one of the workers the day before he was supposed to have his casts removed. He'd climbed in to help the large female remove a fairly large amount of stuck sheds as her cage had been far too dry with far too little room for her to move about in order to properly remove the old skin. He'd been holding a warm, damp wash cloth against the snake's left eye to loosen the stuck eye cap when the ringmaster had stormed up and began yelling at Harry.

Harry merely snorted and continued working on removing the eye cap; he'd promised Beauty (which is what he named the large snake after befriending her) that he'd help her and he wasn't about to break his word. It was a testament to how many of the workers actually feared the large snake when none of them dared reach into the cage in order to extract Harry despite being ordered to do so by the ringmaster. Eventually, Cathy and Trowa turned up to find out what was going on after they both heard about the commotion and while Cathy gasped fearfully when she saw him inside the cage, Trowa merely sighed.

"Really, Harry, another snake?"

"Beauty needed help," Harry replied as he frowned at his 'big brother' after pulling off a huge section of dead skin from Beauty's face. "They've got her in too small of a cage and they aren't keeping the humidity up high enough. She was suffering… I couldn't just leave her."

"Of course not… I suppose I should at least be thankful it wasn't another cobra."

"What's wrong with Seth? I thought you liked Seth… he and the others keep the house free of rats," Harry retorted before he bit his lip and glanced worriedly at Trowa. "Do you think Seth and the rest of the snakes are alright all by themselves? I didn't expect to be gone this long and I don't think anyone else will think to check on him."

"I'm sure Seth will be just fine; considering you gave him and the others free run of the entire house. How much longer do you think it's going to take you to finish up in there? I think you're making the workers antsy because… Beauty was it? Beauty there is big enough to swallow you whole."

"Unless there's a pool I could soak her in for about a half hour it will probably take me the rest of the day to remove the old skin. She really needs a bigger cage and a large pond of her own to soak in. Reticulated pythons typically live in rainforests and often are found swimming in rivers throughout Southeast Asia. I mean really… whose bright idea was it to pack a near full grown python into what amounts to a sardine can!? They could have at least given her something to climb on so she could stretch out once in a while."

"Aren't you worried that she will hurt you?" Cathy asked into the silence that followed Harry's short rant.

Harry turned to the young woman and blinked before glancing down at Beauty who'd just wrapped herself around his stomach and draped her head on his shoulder as she curiously watched those watching her and Harry. Harry then tilted his head to one side as he absently ran the wet wash cloth along the length of Beauty that was wrapped around his waist; pulling free another section of dead skin. He then glanced back up at Cathy and smiled a half smile as he shook his head.

"I'm not afraid of Beauty, I know she'd never intentionally hurt me."

"Boy, that snake has taken a bite out of nearly every hand or arm that makes it way inside of her cage," one of the workers declared bitterly.

"She doesn't seem to mind me," Harry shot back as he lifted his chin and glared at the man. "And my name is not boy."

"I don't care what your name is, kid," the ringmaster declared as he threw up his arms. "You need to come out of there before you get hurt."

'_Want to have some fun, Beauty?_' Harry asked as he turned his back to the crowd and addressed the snake.

'_What did you have in mind, little hatchling?_'

'_They think you're going to hurt me and they want me to come out. I thought maybe you could follow me out when I leave._'

'_I think I'd like that… it's been too long since I stretched out my coils. Do you think you can find me a pond or a river to soak in? I miss the feeling of water sliding between my scales._'

'_I think I can fix up something for you… When I open the cage, I'll make certain you have enough room to get out between my legs so they can't lock you in behind me._'

Beauty nodded and withdrew her coils from Harry as he turned around and pretended to pout as he reluctantly headed towards the door to the cage. Just before he opened the door, Harry glanced right at Trowa (to gauge his current mood) before casting his eyes back at Beauty to make certain she was ready. He then pulled the door wide open, set his feet slightly more than shoulder's width apart, and made to look as if he was going to jump down. Beauty chose that moment to lunge out of the cage between his feet and many of those that had been gathered around watching the unfolding drama screamed and began scrambling backwards.

"Oops, my bad," Harry drawled with feigned innocence as he hid a smirk and just stood there watching Beauty slither all the way out of the cage. "Looks like Beauty thought I was going to take her for the walk I promised her earlier."

Trowa palmed his face as Harry jumped down beside the twenty-five foot python and calmly started pacing beside the enormous snake. A flash of silver flying through the air had Harry dropping his clueless act as he darted forward and plucked the knife from the air before it could harm the snake. He then hissed a warning to Beauty that had her coiling up behind and around him as two more knives flew towards them. This time he was able to identify the culprit and Harry plucked both knives from the air and sent them right back at the man, pinning him in place by the foot. Harry then held the first knife ready as he glared at the man who'd just tried to kill Beauty.

"You alright, Harry?" Trowa asked as he calmly walked up beside the pair.

"Yeah… but I'm pissed as hell. Beauty wasn't going to hurt anyone… she just wanted a little exercise and a little help getting her stuck shed off. He had no business trying to kill her."

'_You are agitated, little hatchling._'

'_I'm angry they tried to hurt you, Beauty,_' Harry murmured in parseltongue as he reached down to hold Beauty's head in his hands so he could look her in the eye (careful not to cut her with the knife he still held). '_I couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt._'

"A pint-sized, knife wielding, snake charmer?" the ringmaster mused as he looked at Harry with dollar signs in his eyes. "I'll tell you what, Barton, you let me put your brother in the ring and I'll not toss you both out on your ears or have you both arrested for the stunt he just pulled with the python."

"I'll agree so long as you provide Beauty with a proper cage, include Trowa in whatever act you plan to have me perform, and pay us the same amount you pay the other performers," Harry declared after recalling what Trowa had said about them having to wait a while longer before they could go home and after glancing up at Trowa who was looking torn over the ultimatum (the teen's eyes glinting with worry even though the rest of his face remained blank).

"What makes you think I'm willing to bargain with you, kid?"

"Because if you want to exploit me for money, you'll agree to my conditions or I'll call the authorities on you for animal cruelty."

"Why you snot nose little brat…"

"I wouldn't finish that sentence, if I were you," Trowa growled as he dropped a hand on Harry's shoulder (to keep Harry from saying anything) and stepped forward to block Harry from the man's view (placing himself between Harry and the ringmaster). "I don't think my brother was asking for too terribly much and I won't even ask for any back pay for the last few nights that I've performed for you for as a favor for Cathy. I'll even put together an act that will showcase his best talents and draw the crowds."

"Fine… but you'd better make it worth my while."

"If you provide the bigger cage I'll do all the work to make it livable," Harry added as he peered around Trowa to meet the ringmaster's near glare. "I'll even take over feeding her and cleaning out her cage, on my own time, for as long as we are here."

"The others are going to kill me," Trowa muttered as they watched the ringmaster stalk away after agreeing to Harry's added compromises and his original conditions.

"I'm sorry, Trowa, I didn't mean to cause trouble for you," Harry meekly apologized as he stared up at the pilot with worried green eyes as he bit his lip uncertainly. "I just wanted to help Beauty because she was so miserable trapped in that cage and after recalling what you said about how much longer we'd need to wait I thought it best to play along with the man instead of stirring up more trouble."

"I can't believe you two," Cathy hissed as she walked up to them while keeping a careful eye on the python that was still half wrapped around Harry.

"Don't blame Trowa," Harry practically ordered as he scratched Beauty under the chin. "He had nothing to do with me being in the snake cage or with me allowing her to sneak out. I'm going to go find Beauty a place to soak so I can finish helping her shed."

Harry climbed out of Beauty's coils and headed towards the small forest the circus had been camped beside, intending to use his magic to create a pool for the snake once he was out of sight; Beauty slithering along at his feet without needing to be told. The moment they slipped beneath the trees, Harry pulled out his wand and set up a few temporary wards to prevent anyone from the circus stumbling upon them. He then set about digging a decent sized pool before filling it with water and adding a few warming charms so that Beauty wouldn't freeze.

After soaking for about an hour and crawling all over the nearby trees to free herself from the old skin, Beauty practically glowed in the afternoon light filtering through the tree. Harry complimented her repeatedly as he got rid of the pool and dropped the wards so they could return to the circus. Once Beauty was returned to her cage, with promises to see to it that she was moved soon, Harry returned to Cathy's trailer where he found Cathy in the kitchen banging around pots and pans angrily as she made supper and Trowa jotting down ideas for their act.

Harry dropped down beside Trowa and looked over what he'd written so far before he picked up a pen, snagged a blank piece of paper, and began writing out a few suggestions of his own. He even added a comment off to one side about asking Cathy to combine her act with theirs since he knew she usually tossed a few knives about during her performance and he didn't want her to lose her job on his account. When he finished, he set down his pen and dropped what he'd written down in front of Trowa before vanishing into the guest bedroom to change his clothes and wash up before dinner.

Ten minutes later, he returned to the kitchen to find Cathy sitting beside Trowa discussing the tentative act they were putting together. Harry paused and studied her for a moment only to do a double take when he noticed the slight resemblance between Trowa and Cathy in the shape of their faces. Shaking it off as his imagination, Harry returned to watching the young woman (he'd learned she was also seventeen just a couple of days earlier – her birthday falling a couple of months earlier than his) to see if she was still angry. When it didn't look like he was going to get a scolding, Harry slipped into an empty seat at the table and listened to the others putting together the new act.

"Where are you going to get that many venomous snakes on such short notice," Cathy suddenly asked. "And why venomous? Isn't that going to be far too dangerous?"

"It's still summer, so it will be easy to find the snakes," Harry answered when Trowa glanced at him since it was Harry that had asked for the snakes. "I'm not expecting to find that many venomous ones though I'm hoping the majority of them will be since that would draw far more attention to the act and they will not harm me any more than Beauty would have harmed me."

"He's just as bad as you are when it comes to the big cats," Cathy huffed at Trowa in mild exasperation.

"What can I say, animal charmers run in the family," Trowa quipped and Harry looked at him with startled eyes as he hadn't known that Trowa considered himself a charmer of sorts nor had he known Trowa had a thing for the big cats aside from the fact that he occasionally treated them with his limited medical training.

"I should have known… okay venomous snakes aside," Cathy muttered as she made a slight face at the thought of being surrounded by deadly snakes. "How confident are you that Harry can do these knife tricks you have listed? I mean he's what, eight? He might have a way with snakes but can you say the same for his ability to handle blades?"

"I really hate being short… I'm twelve, not eight," Harry huffed as he reluctantly used the closest possible number to his real age that was believable. "And while I can't do anything too fancy, I do know what I'm doing. I can show you if you'd like."

"You saw him pluck three knives out of the air and pin Brudy's foot to the ground earlier this afternoon, Cathy."

"I know… but I wasn't certain I saw what I thought I saw because I've never seen a kid handle blades like that and at the time I was far more worried about the python harming him."

They finished ironing out the details a few minutes later, including potential costumes, and Cathy took the finished step by step description of the new act to the ringmaster for approval while Harry and Trowa ate supper and cleaned up the kitchen. Trowa then escorted Harry back out to the forest where Harry spent the next hour calling to all of the wild snakes in the vicinity (both venomous and non-venomous in order to get the numbers he had wanted for the act).

All it took to garner their cooperation for their first performance (if their act was approved) was the promise of a fresh meal or in a few cases a bit of first aide to rid the snakes of mites, ticks, and other parasites or to heal a troublesome injury. Trowa helped carry the snakes back to the trailer in a handful of pillow cases where they would be spending the next few nights beneath Harry's bed where they would be warm after he solicited promises from them not to bite anyone or fight amongst themselves (most snakes being solitary creatures by nature).

Fifty-two hours later, Harry was standing in the shadows nervously waiting for the ringmaster to announce their act. He glanced over at the truck where the large crate holding the snakes that had agreed to help him out sat on the truck bed before he glanced sideways to his left where Trowa was standing with his arms crossed watching the current act finish their performance. The fifteen year old was dressed in form fitting black slacks, a dark maroon silk dress shirt with a black tie, and black dress shoes that didn't seem quite as flashy as the clown costume he normally wore and at the same time made him look far more intimidating.

Harry on the other hand, was dressed in baggy black jeans, a black undershirt, a cotton blend dress shirt the same color as Trowa's shirt that he wore unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up, and a black pair of running shoes. The casual look was meant to give him the appearance of not belonging in the act while the matching colors said he did (a slight trick to fool the audience). Harry had used magic to change both his and Trowa's hair to a pale reddish brown (that almost matched Cathy's hair color, only lighter). Harry's hair had then been spiked wildly while Trowa's was tamed into something a bit more presentable after both of them were given a quick trim by Cathy. The last thing Harry had done was use magic to change the color of his left eye and Trowa's right eye to blue and then convinced Cathy that they were using colored contacts.

A glance to his right revealed a slightly nervous Cathy; the young woman alternating between fiddling with her throwing knives and smoothing down her skirt. Unlike the outfit she was wearing for her prior act, Cathy was wearing a new backless black and maroon dress that was a little more daring than her other stage outfits (the black skirt ending around mid-thigh in the front and with the back falling down to her knees) and wore knee high black boots. She'd also forgone her usual white feathers and wore instead three black and maroon feathers that were longer than her white ones.

All together, the three of them made a striking trio or they would have if not for the fact that Harry was a good two and a half feet shorter than both of the other teens. Still, the ringmaster had been happy enough with their new look and had posters with their picture on them splashed across the outside of the tent and about the nearest town well before sunset.

The sound of applause rang loudly as the acrobats finished their performance and Harry brushed the sweat from his palms and swallowed thickly as one of the clowns started up the truck and drove it out into the ring when he was given his cue. Five more clowns darted out after him with the rest of their props and Harry felt his legs start shaking and wondered if he'd actually be able to go through with this.

"Relax, you're going to do just fine, Harry," Trowa softly assured him as he dropped a hand onto Harry's shoulder and gave a light squeeze when the wizard flinched just the slightest bit at the touch. "Just imagine that you're back with the others practicing your juggling again."

Harry gave the green-eyed pilot a tight smile as the clowns gallivanted around the ring for another minute before getting chased out by the truck driving clown (the crate of waiting snakes having been left off to one side of the ring). Taking a deep breath, Harry closed his eyes for a heartbeat as he waited for the ringmaster and the band to signal his entrance. The moment he heard the drum roll sound (after missing the ringmaster's announcement), he shoved his hands in his pockets and began whistling a jaunty (if a little shaky) tune as loud as he could as he seemingly skipped out into the ring by mistake. He paid no mind to the audience as he stumbled to a stop after pretending to trip over one of the brightly colored balls that the clowns had left scattered about the ring.

The laughter that rang out had Harry glancing up at the audience and he didn't have to fake the deer-in-the-headlights look that crept onto his face as he jumped back and glanced around as if looking for the ringmaster. When no one came out, Harry sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and quickly ducked down to gather up the colored balls and made to leave the ring again, only to pause and glance around again for the ringmaster. He then began trying to juggle the balls, purposefully dropping them which had him scrambling across the ground until he was just ten feet away the box of snakes.

It was at that point that Cathy and Trowa entered the ring only for them to stop and hold what looked like a short argument when they saw Harry still trying to gather up the balls and juggle them. Harry jumped when Trowa let out a piercing whistle and tried to send him out of the ring but Harry shook his head and began trying to juggle the balls again only to drop them once more. Trowa once again ordered Harry out of the ring and when he turned his back to say something to Cathy, Harry beaned him in the back of the head with one of the balls to the audience's delight.

Cathy turned to hide her laughter while Harry whistled innocently as Trowa mock glared, picked up the offending ball, and threw it back at Harry. Harry yelped and ducked to avoid getting hit (dropping the rest of the juggling balls he'd been holding). As planned, the ball struck the latch on the box of snakes which dropped a ramp down with a crash and Cathy (and a good portion of the audience) let out a very real scream as close to two hundred local snakes (more than half of them venomous) began pouring out of the crate. In the mean time, Harry was scrambling to pick up the scattered balls once more; seemingly completely unaware of the snakes rapidly swarming towards him.

Harry was bent over, picking up a pink ball when he froze as he caught sight of the snakes and he barely jerked back upright when he was completely surrounded. By this time, Trowa was tightly holding Cathy as if comforting her (or possibly holding her back) as they both watched the snakes coiling around Harry and climbing up his legs. Trowa then began searching his clothes until he pulled out a trio of knives and spent a moment calming Cathy before he threw the knives with deadly accuracy in order to kill a few of the snakes, looking as if he hoped to clear the way for Harry to get free. Harry stuffed the balls he'd been holding into his pockets and settled his feet firmly as he appeared frozen in place as the knives headed straight for him.

'_Get ready friends,_' Harry hissed in warning to the snakes under his breath as he flexed his fingers.

Harry then plucked the three blades out of the air and tossed them up out of the way as Trowa sent another trio and the audience screamed again as they believed that Harry wouldn't be able to dodge the falling knives due to his earlier act with the balls. Silence fell over the entire tent as the blades above him rushed down towards him at the same time as the blades Trowa had just thrown headed straight for him. All of the air seemed to get sucked out of the tent in the next second as Harry's hands flashed through the air and expertly caught all six blades and cheekily held them up three in each hand while Trowa appeared to pull his hair out over the snakes that were still posing and coiling around his feet or climbing up and around his body.

Harry then struck a thoughtful pose as he glanced at the blades and to the audience's horror he began juggling them. After nearly a full minute, in which the crowd was digesting what was happening, applause began ringing out along with whistles, cat calls, and laughter as they realized they'd been had. Harry cheekily grinned and nodded at Trowa who began throwing additional knives at Harry one at a time until Harry was juggling fifteen of them.

Cathy covered her face with her hands for several moments, her anxiety very real, before she plastered a fake smile on her face and set up the target for the next part of their act. Once the target was in position, Trowa let Harry know by throwing the last knife and the moment he caught it, Harry began throwing all the knives one after another at the target until a circle of fifteen blades surrounded the first blade in the very center. The crowd went wild as Harry executed a careful bow, covered in snakes as he was, before he began petting the various snakes that were crawling on him.

Whispering a soft command to the snakes, Harry carefully sat down as if he was exhausted and the audience screamed again as the snakes swarmed over him, completely hiding him from view. A minute later, Harry resurfaced lying on his back as the snakes carried him back up into the crate and pulled the ramp up behind them; sealing both Harry and themselves back inside of the crate with Harry's help once the audience could no longer see him. Harry thanked all of the snakes as he climbed up the short ladder leading to the small door on the top of the crate while waiting for his signal to resurface.

Meanwhile, outside of the box, Cathy and Trowa were racing across the ring calling out Harry's name. The moment they began pounding on the crate, Harry popped open the door on top and leaned over the side. Cathy yelled up at him to get out of there and Harry pretended to pout before he ducked back down inside for a moment. When he came back up he had a pair of snakes around his neck and both Trowa and Cathy ordered him to put the snakes back. Harry pouted again and reluctantly returned the snakes back to the crate before he climbed all of the way out and closed the lid.

Trowa slumped back against the crate at that point and Harry pulled one of the colored juggling balls out of his pocket and bounced it off Trowa's head much to the crowd's amusement. Trowa climbed up onto the crate and carefully dragged Harry down to the ground where he was promptly scolded and sent from the ring. Harry tucked his hands in his pockets and shuffled dejectedly out of the ring and the two teens began preparing to start their act when the crowd screamed again as a snake popped out of the back of Harry's shirt and appeared to taunt the two older teens.

Harry cringed as he was told to put the snake down and he pouted as Trowa threw up his arms to argue with Cathy over whose fault tonight's disaster was and Harry took that opportunity to hit Trowa in the back of the head with one final ball before he darted off out of sight with the snake still wrapped around his neck. Harry dropped down and buried his hands in his face the moment he reached the staging area, his entire body shaking as the realization that he'd just performed in front of close to a thousand people forcefully slammed back into his mind. He couldn't even bring himself to watch Cathy 'bully' Trowa into being a target as she 'blamed' him for Harry's stunts while throwing knives at him.

He didn't even hear the audience's cat calls, cheers, and jeers when Trowa lifted his entire body up out of the way as one knife came dangerously close to hitting him in the family jewels accidentally on purpose (apparently Cathy had a bit of a vindictive streak). They finished two minutes later and the crowd went completely wild. It took one of the clowns leaning down and reminding Harry that he needed to go back out to take a bow to break through Harry's post-stage-fright breakdown. Whistles and cat calls rang out as Harry tentatively crept back out into the ring seemingly unnoticed by Trowa and Cathy.

He shyly waved at them and offered a nervous bow before he dug out another ball from his pocket and threw it at Trowa, intending to hit him in the back of the head one last time. Trowa reached out and caught the ball at the last second and stared down at it before he glanced back over his shoulder at Harry who scratched the back of his neck and tried to avoid looking at Trowa. Harry yelped and jumped back as the ball hit nearly hit him in the head in return and Harry tucked his thumbs in his ears, wiggled his fingers, and stuck his tongue out at Trowa.

His laughter and the crowd's rang out as Trowa chased Harry out of the ring while Cathy threw up her hands and followed after. Harry stumbled to a stop once he was out of sight once more and sagged back against the side of the clown car as Trowa caught up with him a minute later. He wrapped his arms around his stomach as he glanced up at the taller teen stopped beside him and blurted out, "I don't know if I could do that again, Trowa; I've never been so nervous before and I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"It gets easier over time," Trowa assured him. "I felt the same way the first time I ever performed in front of a crowd; even though I hid it almost as well as you did out there. You did great, Harry; the crowd loved you."

"It's been a long time since I've felt so nervous and terrified out in the ring," Cathy stated as she walked up beside them. "I was not expecting you to have found quite that many snakes and I couldn't believe just how calm you looked out there surrounded by so many deadly snakes. Personally, I never want to see you do it again. Professionally, however, you stole the show with your acting and talent and it was a pleasure performing with you both out there."

"Less beaning me in the back of the head next time would be appreciated," Trowa dryly added setting both Harry and Cathy to giggling.

"I guess it was kind of fun once I forgot about everyone who was watching. The snakes really seemed to enjoy themselves as well. I still don't know how I'll do it again though."

"I think you'll do just fine," Cathy declared as she smiled and ruffled Harry's hair (the wizard for once not flinching away from her as his thoughts were still far too focused on his performance). "You handled yourself out there far better than I would have expected for your first time performing in front of such a large crowd. I think you take after your brother in that sense."

Two hours later, at the end of the show, Harry returned to the ring one last time that night to take a final bow along with all of the other performers. It might have been his imagination but he thought maybe the crowd cheered a little louder when the three of them walked out together. In some ways it reminded him of the first time he'd played Quidditch in front of the entire school but not exactly the same because at no point did anyone or anything truly try to kill him (even if it appeared just the opposite to the crowd).

The only thing that would have made it better was if the other four pilots and the Maganacs had been there to share the moment.

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**AN:** _This chapter was almost pure filler and lots of fun. The important part being the beginning where Harry verbally admits to having grown attached to all of the pilots and forbids them to die and leave him alone. Introducing Cathy was important as well, of course. And while a child performer with Harry's apparent young age would be highly frowned upon during current times in our world; please keep in mind that the GW verse is not exactly our world and I've made the ringmaster a less honest person than he is in the series simply because I needed to set up what happens in the next chapter. _

_Well, that and I really wanted Harry to have a moment to just be a kid; something he's rarely ever had a chance to do in canon (at least that is how I see the series); and what better place to be a kid than at the circus? ~ Jenn_


	19. Falling into Enemy hands

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 18: Falling into Enemy hands

Harry grew to love performing in front of the crowd over the next five weeks; each performance boosting his confidence as the crowds grew larger. The ringmaster actually started offering two shows per day after the second week in order to accommodate the growing numbers. Beauty and the other snakes quickly began attracting far more attention during the walk-throughs that the ringmaster allowed before each show since Harry could often be found tending to the large python or the other numerous snakes that had chosen to remain with him.

Beauty's new cage was a hit all on its own (with both the snake and the crowds) as it literally looked like Harry had picked up a section of an actual rainforest instead of secretly creating it from scratch with the help of his magic and a number of supplies he'd sent Trowa to buy with money from his trunk. Beauty's old cage had been turned into a second snake habitat for the wild snakes that Harry used in their act, the cage divided horizontally into five sections that were interconnected to allow the snakes to move around as needed. Harry had cheated and used magic to enhance both cages to make them easier to maintain so that all of the snakes were comfortable with extra space added discreetly so that none of the snakes would feel crowded.

Feeding all one hundred and fifteen of the snakes that opted to stick around (Harry supplementing their numbers with additional wild snakes as needed for their act) was a chore and a half but Harry managed to purchase an assortment of mice, rats, gerbils, and hamsters (again with Trowa's help) that he turned out into the new snake habitat. He'd also collected wild field mice, shrews, and voles (that he treated for parasites and diseases) so that there were plenty of options for the snakes to choose from. He even made the rodents a few areas that were protected from the snakes so they could breed without fear while the snakes culled the numbers whenever they ventured beyond safe zones for food (much like they would in nature).

It didn't take long for Harry to fall into a comfortable routine while they continued to stay with the circus as the troupe traveled across continental Europe (spending roughly four or five days in each area). Each morning, after Harry woke up, he'd spend an hour practicing the katas and the exercises that Wufei and the Maganacs had taught him before practicing the other skills that he'd been taught by the pilots (this included knife throwing, shooting practice – Trowa having started teaching him how to clean and use the pistols that Heero had given him, and crowd watching). He even spent an hour each day on the replacement laptop he'd talked Trowa into purchasing for him working on various academic lessons (mostly math, grammar, and typing) so he wouldn't fall behind and disappoint Quatre when he next saw the blonde.

Two hours before lunch, he'd join Trowa and they'd practice their act, working on any new tricks they had decided to add in, before they would join Cathy for the noon meal. Afterwards, Harry would hang out with Beauty in her cage while the crowds circulated amongst the various animal cages and answer questions about the many different types of snakes he worked with and even bring out one or two of the non-venomous ones for people to pet once he grew more comfortable dealing with strangers. Trowa would usually be somewhere close by during this time to watch over Harry in case any of the visitors grew rowdy or sought to cause trouble for Harry or the snakes (since the crowd easily mistook him as the child he appeared to be).

At one thirty, Harry would move the wild snakes into their crate (Beauty only participating in the evening show when she was bored or the ringmaster wanted to impress some official or other) before heading back to the trailer in order to dress for the two o'clock show. He would then meet Trowa and Cathy just outside the employee entrance to the main tent by two-fifteen. By five after three, their performance was over and Harry returned the snakes to their habitat before joining the rest of the performers to take a final bow. After that Harry would have two hours in which to rest, eat supper, change into a clean outfit, and prepare for the evening performance at six.

The nighttime crowds were usually filled with important dignitaries, military officers, high-ranking officials, politicians, and other important people; that usually meant that the acts performed by the actors each evening were slightly longer and more involved than the earlier afternoon shows. It was after one such evening showing during Harry's fifth week as a performer with the circus, within the Duchy of Luxembourg, that the ringmaster was approached by a couple of high profile individuals who wished to hire a number of the performers for a private showing and make a deal with the ringmaster.

The ringmaster, ever ready to make a little extra money, consented to both propositions without bothering to consult the performers in question; which included Harry, Trowa, and Cathy as well as a few of the other popular acts. Trowa tried to talk the ringmaster out of sending their small act the moment he heard the news but was unsuccessful. Harry later asked him why and learned that Treize Khushrenada (the current leader of OZ) was rumored to be based out of Luxembourg Castle (which was the proposed venue of the private performance).

Harry had immediately understood the implications and took care to pack up anything he didn't want to leave behind in case they needed to leave unexpectedly in the event that trouble came calling (making a point to hide his cord of trunks and his wand holster with a Disillusionment Charm as a precaution). He also chose the snakes he'd be taking with him very carefully, taking only those in excellent health, that were also in their prime. He also stuck to the deadlier snakes since they would be more effective if they needed to fight their way out (leaving Beauty and the rest of the snakes safely tucked away in their cages).

The drive through the capital city was nerve wracking for Harry as the closer they got to their destination the larger the knot of dread inside his stomach grew. He managed to pass it off as nervous excitement to Cathy though Harry knew Trowa was well aware of what was bothering him. Once they arrived, Harry buried his nervousness as best he could by playing the part of a curious and excited tourist who'd never been inside of a castle before (drawing deeply upon his memories of the first time he'd seen Hogwarts and how he'd felt at the time). His wide eyes taking in everything and everyone as he chattered non-stop to both Trowa and Cathy about seemingly random items he spotted as they were led through the castle; the epitome of an excited, awed, and hyperactive child.

They were soon led outside to a large meticulously manicured lawn where their equipment and props had been delivered earlier that morning and Harry darted forward to check on the snakes. After making certain the critters hadn't suffered during transport, Harry lent a hand to the workers assembling the snake crate. He then spent a good ten minutes making certain all of the doors and the ramp functioned as they should to insure that none of the snakes would be injured.

Harry had the opportunity to let off some steam shortly after that as he noticed someone mishandling one of the boxes containing some of his snakes. He actually embarrassed the man as he verbally cursed him six ways from Sunday about proper handling of live animals before diving into the box to check on the animals in question; thankfully, the snakes were merely irritated and not injured. Harry then spent a good twenty minutes calming them down and promising to make certain they weren't treated so roughly the next time they were transported.

Unknown to Harry, there were a small handful of individuals paying extra close attention to his every move as he went about preparing for the show they were supposed to give. One of those individuals was a man with long blonde hair and a masked helmet that hid the upper half of his face; a man Harry would have recognized instantly if he'd seen him.

An hour and a half later, Harry (dressed in black slacks and an unbuttoned emerald green silk dress shirt with silver boots, belt, and tie) was skipping out onto the temporary stage to play his fumbling kid routine. As his eyes swung over the audience he happened to catch sight of a terrifyingly familiar mask and he actually tripped for real over his own feet. He managed to cover up the blunder by pretending that it was part of the act, though his heart was pounding like mad in his chest and his ears had begun ringing.

How he managed to get through the rest of his short solo performance, Harry didn't have a clue but he'd never been more relived to see Trowa and Cathy as he was when the pilot and the young woman joined him on stage ten minutes into Harry's performance. Before he threw the first ball at Trowa, he used his thumbnail to write a short message onto the small ball and knew the instant Trowa read the message as the pilot had given Harry a sharp look before throwing the ball back to trigger the crate's ramp.

Harry was forced to forget about the masked man in the audience at that point as he needed to focus on what he was doing least he fumble one of the blades and hurt himself or one of the snakes. His performance that afternoon exceeded his earlier performances as he played a few of his new tricks while juggling the fifteen blades that Trowa had thrown to him; changing the pattern he threw them in, tossing a few from behind his back, and even bouncing a couple off his foot by the flat of the blade. When the last blade flew from his hand and hit the target, this time forming a spiral instead of the usual circle, Harry bowed low and tripped forward when he happened to catch sight of the masked man once more.

Luckily the snakes were well used to Harry's strange antics by this time and they neither took offense nor hesitated in performing their assigned task as they swarmed over Harry before picking him up and carrying him away to the crate. Once inside, Harry wasted no time in moving all but a few of the snakes into his supply trunk where they'd be safe from harm because he couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of dread he felt as he kept seeing that first memory of the masked man (from the day he'd faked the destruction of Wing) staring down at him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Cathy and Trowa knocking on the crate at first and when he did finally hear them pounding loudly, he had the insane urge to simply ignore them.

He shook off the urge a heartbeat later, climbed up to the top, opened the door, and gave a huge fake yawn as he stretched out his arms and peered over the side of the box while rubbing his eyes sleepily. He drew the next part of their act out as long as he could, trying to talk the other two into allowing him to keep at least one snake with him before he finally hid the last five snakes beneath his shirt and reluctantly vacated the crate. He darted off the stage two minutes later and wrapped his arms around his stomach the moment he was out of sight in order to keep himself from throwing up.

When it was time for him to go back out at the end of their act, Harry went in chasing one of the snakes he'd 'snuck' out of the crate only to hide it behind his back once he 'caught' it again. The rest of the cast poured onto the stage at that point as their act had, for once, been the last act of the entire show and Harry actually gave a genuine smile of relief as he bowed one last time, waved to the audience, and allowed Trowa to swing him up onto his shoulders as they slipped off the stage (for once actually wanting the reassurance the physical contact offered).

"Can we go home now, Trowa?" Harry asked softly as he slumped down to rest his chin on Trowa's head; his thoughts dwelling on the absent pilots as the glamor of being a circus star lost all appeal after that afternoon's performance. "I'm tired and I don't think I can take any more right now."

"We're almost finished here, kiddo. Once everything is packed up, we'll go," Trowa replied in an attempt to cheer Harry up only for Harry to shiver over the instant reminder of the other pilots.

"I miss them, Trowa," Harry admitted with a soft sigh.

"It won't be long before we see them again."

"Excuse me."

Trowa turned around at the interruption to find a young woman with short, black hair wearing a stylish black dress suit smiling at them as she flicked her eyes up to study Harry for a moment. Harry felt icy fingers creep up his spine as he recalled seeing the same women sitting beside the masked man during the show. He tightened his hold on Trowa even as he gave the appearance of slumping down further, making it look like he was about to fall asleep.

"Can I help you?" Trowa asked politely as he reached up to place his hand on Harry's knee as if to keep Harry from slipping off his perch.

"My name is Lucrezia Noin and my employer was greatly impressed with your performance," Lucrezia introduced herself as she flicked her eyes up towards Harry again at the end of her sentence. "He asked me to offer you and both of your partners an invitation to join us for the evening meal in the hopes of discussing your remarkable performance."

"I am honored to receive such an invitation; however, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. As you can see my little brother is fairly exhausted after a long week. Today is usually his day off but he was far too excited about seeing a castle up close that I couldn't convince him to stay home and rest. He'll only grow cranky if I were to keep him from his well deserved rest for too much longer."

"We absolutely must insist you join us," a man's voice declared from behind them and Trowa spun around to find Zechs Merquise holding Cathy's arm firmly as he looked right at Harry who'd tensed further the moment he'd heard the man's familiar voice.

"Trowa…?" Cathy asked in a tremulous voice as she glanced between Zechs and the two boys.

"It appears we have a dinner invitation that we just can't say no to," Trowa reluctantly acquiesced as he allowed both Lucrezia and Zechs to guide them back to the castle.

As they reached the entrance, Trowa lifted Harry down from his shoulders and brought him around so that he was holding him in his arms while Harry automatically wrapped his arms around Trowa's neck and rested his head on Trowa's shoulder. Harry's peaceful appearance was completely at odds with his racing heart and the icy numbness that had stolen over him the moment the woman had appeared at their side. The earlier feeling of dread that had been building from the moment Trowa had told him why he'd tried to get them out of performing today settled permanently in Harry's stomach as the shadows of the castle swallowed them.

The three of them were led to a pair of guest rooms where they were offered a chance to freshen up and given an appropriate change of clothes. Harry had taken one look at the small tuxedo that had been set aside for him and shivered as he knew without a doubt that the fancy suit would fit him perfectly. Not that Harry was going to actually wear the tux; he had no intention of undressing in front of the security cameras he suspected were in the room.

He also had no intention of giving up the many blades he was wearing beneath his current outfit because half of them would not sit properly beneath the snug dress shirt that came with the tux and there was no place on the tux to hide the five snakes he had with him. And while Trowa changed into the clothes that were provided for him willingly enough (the pilot far better at hiding and accessing his various knives), he didn't try very hard to talk Harry into wearing the suit; the attempt more of a show for their suspected audience. He did at least straighten and freshen up his clothes with a discreet charm, button his shirt, and tuck the hem of the shirt into his slacks to make himself a little more presentable.

The man who came to lead them to the dining room raised an eyebrow when he noticed that Harry was still wearing his costume but didn't really seem all that surprised; confirmation that they had been watched. After being led through an endless maze of hallways (a not so subtle attempt to confuse them and make it difficult for them to find their way out) they ended up in a fancy dining room that had a long wooden table that Harry thought might have been twice the length of the house tables at Hogwarts. The overly opulent room just screamed wealth and privilege with the crystal chandeliers, priceless artwork, expensive carpets, crystal goblets, fine china, genuine silverware, and silk table cloth.

Harry couldn't help wrinkling his nose in disgust at the money on display as he easily pictured the Malfoys feeling at home in just such a room. The pint-sized teen quickly school his face into one of sleepy awe the moment he noted their arrival had drawn the attention of several individuals in the room; one of which was the masked man and the other the familiar visage of Treize Khushrenada (whose face Harry had often seen on the internet). He barely managed to bite back his groan of dismay when he found himself led to the chair directly across from the masked man as he just knew the man would spend most of the meal trying to draw Harry into a conversation or simply staring at him. The only redeeming aspect of the seating arrangements was the fact that Harry was seated between Cathy and Trowa and would not have to sit next to a stranger.

Just before they were actually given permission to be seated, they were formally introduced to a small handful of the other individuals that were attending the meal; including Treize Khushrenada, Zechs Merquise (the masked man), Lady Une (who reminded Harry of Narcissa Malfoy and who he recognized as the woman who'd threatened the colonies several weeks earlier), Duke Dermail Catalonia (head of the Romefeller Foundation), Hundelt Catalonia (Dermail's oldest son), Dorothy Catalonia (Hundelt's niece and Dermail's granddaughter), and Ken Tsubarov (Chief Engineer for the Romefeller Foundation and a man who looked like an older version of Snape with slightly better hygiene).

Harry wished more than ever that they had not been forced to attend this farce of a meal as he slid into his seat and tried not to allow his anxiety to show. He couldn't stop himself from flinching (slight though it was) when a waiter leaned around him to fill his water goblet with lemon ice water before attempting to help Harry place his napkin on his lap. Harry was a little better prepared when the man placed a bowl of clam chowder down in front of him just a few minutes later.

As those seated up and down the table began eating, Harry was never more thankful for Aunt Petunia drilling formal etiquette into his head when he was younger because otherwise he would have had absolutely no idea which spoon to use for his soup or how to behave at such a formal meal (a side effect of his aunt forever trying to reach above her station). Attire and frayed nerves aside, Harry managed to fit right in with the rest of the blue-bloods though to either side of him Trowa and Cathy, while no where near embarrassing themselves, were both obviously uncomfortable with the entire affair.

Harry ate sparingly from each of the courses that passed in front of him, extremely leery of being poisoned or drugged in addition to his stomach being twisted into knots due to his nervousness. He completely avoided the goblet of grape juice or red wine that had been poured for him at the start of the third course (he couldn't tell by look alone and he wasn't going to taste it since both juice and wine would cover the taste of any unwanted additives in the drink). He would have preferred plain ice water since the slight hint of lemon could have disguised a mild drug but he couldn't not drink anything and to ask for something special would have called far too much attention to him; so he sipped at the cool glass of water periodically, nibbled at the food in front of him, and spent more time listening to the various conversations around him rather than joining in.

At least he didn't have to worry about holding a conversation with Zechs as the man seemed content to simply watch Harry from beneath his mask. Harry on the other hand did his best to not even look at the man without making it obvious that he was trying to ignore him (not an easy feat). That he appeared to be so young worked in his favor as a twelve year old (or an eight year old given how small he was) couldn't really be expected to be good at hiding their emotions.

He was certain that his slightly wide and glassy eyed expression made him look both suitably impressed with the fancy meal and fighting exhaustion fooled their dining companions but with Zechs it was hard to know because the mask effectively hid the man's expression. In some ways, Harry found Zechs' mask far more frightening than the Death Eater masks because, while the bleached white skulls were frightening, Zechs' mask looked down right predatory and completely hid his eyes.

By the time dessert was served, Harry was feeling stiff and sore from the constant strain of trying to maintain the invisible mask he'd been wearing since he first stepped into the room and the anxiety of not knowing what to expect. On either side of him, Trowa and Cathy were far more relaxed than they had been at the beginning of the meal and Harry suspected that was partly due to the wine the two of them had been plied with throughout the meal (though Harry was almost certain that Trowa was faking his slight inebriation). Lifting up the last spoon at his place setting, Harry contemplated the final bowl that had been set in front of him.

It was filled with a gloriously sinful treat that consisted of a thick brownie (still warm) and a scoop of lightly melting real vanilla ice cream (if the small black specs scattered through the creamy white of the ice cream was any indication) both of which were generously drizzled over with hot fudge and warm caramel. On top of the ice cream was a dollop of homemade whip cream, a sprinkle of chopped nuts, chocolate shavings, and a single maraschino cherry with the stem still on it. It was a Dudley worthy dessert and that set off warning bells in Harry's head; if only because Harry never received such rich and drool worthy treats when outside of Hogwarts (bar the Knickerbocker glory Dudley had deemed inadequate during the trip to the zoo for Dudley's eleventh birthday) and even the school's deserts had never been quite so extravagant.

"Is there something wrong with your sundae, child?" Zechs inquired; the masked man addressing Harry for the first time all evening.

Harry glanced up at the man sitting across from him through his bangs as he set his spoon down the table without touching the dessert. Allowing a small pout to curve his lips, Harry flicked his eyes to Trowa (who'd already eaten a portion of his dessert) before looking up to meet the blank eyes of the mask as he hesitantly offered the man a bald faced lie, "I don't know… it looks delicious but… well… I'm allergic to chocolate and I feel bad because that means the sundae will go to waste."

"That is a tragedy," Zechs murmured and Harry got the feeling that the man had not only seen right through his lie but also knew why he'd lied in the first place; it didn't help that Trowa had glanced sharply at him the moment he'd spoken. "I have a hard time imagining what it would be like to not be able to eat chocolate every once in a while."

To Harry's horror, the man then signaled to one of the waiters serving the diner guests and ordered Harry a new sundae minus the chocolate, fudge, and brownie. It killed Harry to smile and politely thank the man as the original sundae was whisked away. Ten minutes later, when his replacement dessert arrived, Harry had no choice but to pick up his spoon and eat; least he be forced to admit to his earlier lie. The ice cream, caramel, nuts, and whip cream tasted like ash in Harry's mouth and settled in his stomach like a rock as he forced himself to appear as if he savored each bite.

He managed to eat close to a third of the sundae when he felt the need to wash the taste of it out of his mouth and he reached out to grab his water glass only to find that it had been removed at some point just before or just after his replacement dessert had arrived and all that remained was the untouched glass of reddish purple liquid. He couldn't help the small frown that flittered across his face as he reluctantly picked up the crystal goblet while allowing his eyes to casually search for his missing water glass.

Bringing the goblet up to his mouth, Harry felt eyes boring into him as he placed his mouth on the rim of the fine crystal and tipped it up so the liquid inside brushed against his lips. He then pretended to swallowed while not allowing anything to pass through his lips as he discreetly sniffed at the liquid and correctly identified it as lightly watered down wine. He made a funny face, as if in response to the taste, and set it down before wiping his mouth with his napkin and taking a bite of ice cream as if to get rid of the taste of the wine.

Harry was so focused on the charade with his drink and his sundae and completely used to the waiter stepping up behind him that he didn't pay any attention to the new man that stepped up behind him until he felt the bite of the needle in his neck followed by the burning of whatever drug they'd given him flooding through his system. Stiffening in his seat, Harry's eyes shot across the table to Zechs to see the man's slight smirk before he glanced sideways to find Trowa already unconscious and being dragged from his chair by two guards. A second glance to his left saw the scene being repeated with Cathy and Harry felt anger course through him as he shot out of his seat and up onto the table to escape the hands that had been clutching at him.

His goblet of wine was kicked in Zechs' direction; his unfinished dessert followed half a second later, and Trowa's partially eaten sundae ended up in the face of the man who'd jabbed Harry with the needle. Dodging the many hands that were now seeking him, Harry dashed nimbly down the table in hot pursuit of his quasi brother (easily jumping over the center pieces scattered along the length) as they dragged the drugged teen out of the room. He could feel the drug they had dosed him with spreading through his system with every beat of his heart while his magic worked overtime to clear the chemical from his body. The sound of a gun firing from somewhere behind him had Harry spinning and dropping low as the tranquilizer dart that had been fired at him sailed harmlessly over his head before he stood back up.

That provided just enough of a distraction that the two soldiers that had been trying to capture him pulled level with his current position and Harry only escaped their ill timed lunge by bending over backwards into a handstand and flipping himself back up onto his feet so he could dance back out of their reach once more. The next tranquilizer dart shot at him was plucked from the air and stabbed into the hand that grabbed his pant leg and Harry grinned manically when he heard man give out a girlish shriek and felt the hand immediately release him. He was then running down the center of the table once more only to slip into a foot first slide when he saw one of the unnamed guests jump up onto the table in order to block his path.

Just before he would have crashed into the man, Harry leaned to the side, grabbed hold of the table cloth, and rolled off the edge of the table. His momentum was checked by his hold on the table cloth and he threw himself beneath the table before he yanked hard on the silk cloth as he landed on his behind. He was rewarded by a loud thump as the man on the table crashed down accompanied by the sound of dozens of expensive plates, bowls, goblets, and silverware crashing to the floor. Dropping the cloth, Harry ran back in the opposite direction; keeping to the center beneath the table to avoid the legs of those still sitting at the table so as to not let them know he'd changed directions until he darted out at the last possible second and made a wild dash towards the door he'd seen them taken Trowa and Cathy through.

"For crying out loud, will somebody catch that brat!?" Duke Dermail ordered angrily.

"Ah blow it out your arse ya lily-livered pile of maggot infested nogtail crap!" Harry bellowed in reply as he blindly flipped the man off before ducking under and around yet another ineffectual guard.

"Why wasn't he given the full dose of tranquilizer?" Treize demanded from some where behind Harry.

"I did give him the full dose."

"Then why the hell hasn't the little bastard dropped like a rock?" Dermail snapped.

"Because your drugs are just as efficient and effective as you are, you scum sucking son of a wart-faced hag!" Harry taunted as he cut back towards the table once more and dove clean under to the other side before rolling back up onto his feet as he frantically tried to find another way out of the room so he could hunt down and rescue Trowa and Cathy.

'_Belladonna, will you help me?_' Harry asked in parseltongue as he noted that the soldiers were attempting to box him in.

'_Gladly, little hatchling._'

'_Thank you, beautiful; remind me to catch you an extra fat vole when all of this is over._'

The snake in question hissed in amusement and anticipation as she slid out from beneath Harry's shirt to coil around his neck as he once more scrambled up onto the table. Instead of running any further though, he pulled free a pair of his throwing knives and stood his ground as the soldiers gathered on both sides of the table. Harry unhesitatingly slashed at any of the hands that reached for him from either side while Belladonna slid down to his waste and struck at those that attempted to catch him from behind. The soldiers then got smart and tried to trip Harry up in the table cloth and the only reason Harry didn't tumble off the table was because he threw both of his knives down toward his feet and pinned the silk cloth in place; preventing them from succeeding.

Unfortunately, he did stumble though and that was enough for a pair of hands to grab hold of his right leg and his left shoulder. The hand on his leg lost a couple of fingers as he pulled out yet another pair of knives while the one holding his shoulder was met with a pair of lethal fangs. The curses directed at Harry from the owners of said hands rolled off him like water off the back of a duck as he continued to slash at any hand that moved into his line of sight. Eventually, the rabble realized that Harry wasn't going to give up and just allow them to lay hands on him and the soldiers stepped back just out of reach of Harry's blades and Belladonna's fangs.

"I must say you are a troublesome little brat," Treize announced as he and Zechs joined the partial circle pinning Harry in the middle of the table while four soldiers joined Harry on the table to prevent him from escaping to either side.

"I haven't even gotten started, you narcissistic nitwit," Harry hissed angrily. "Where have you taken my brother and Cathy?"

"Not too terribly far," Treize replied. "I imagine you would like to see them again."

Harry stilled as his head snapped around so he could meet Treize's eyes as the implied threat immediately hit home. His hands slowly dropped down to his side, the knives (including the ones stuck in the table) vanishing unnoticed back into the folds of his clothes. Belladonna slid up his back so she could coil around his neck while Harry mentally cursed the fact that he couldn't use his magic to fight his way out since that would reveal his abilities; something Heero had long ago ordered him to avoid doing unless he could hide what he was doing, make it appear like he was using technology, or he could take out any potential witnesses all at once.

He didn't so much as flinch when he felt the bite of a tranquilizer dart in the back of his right thigh. Nor did he give any indication when he felt another lodge itself in his left arm. It wasn't until the third one dug into the back of his left shoulder that Harry began to feel lethargy spreading through his body and still he didn't look away from Treize. Two more darts simultaneously landed on his left thigh and the center of his back before he sank to his knees as he lost feeling in his legs. As his vision began going dark, Harry's eyes silently promised Treize a slow and painful death if any harm befell his brother or his friend.

'_Stand down Belladonna; don't give them any reason to harm you. Same goes for the rest of you guys,_' Harry ordered with a softly slurred hiss. '_Don't let them search me either, if you can help it, because they'll take both you and my knives and they'll not allow you to live._'

'_We will obey, speaker._'

Harry was just barely clinging to consciousness as he felt Belladonna slip beneath his shirt and hands pulled him off of the table. Fingers dug into his arms for a long minute before he heard a garbled command and felt himself being lifted into someone's arms. Forcing his eyes to focus despite the drug's determined efforts to knock him out completely, Harry looked up to see the familiar and unwelcome sight of the bird-like mask of Zechs Merquise.

"People like you are excrement filled pustules on the ass crack of society," Harry slurred out and he gave a weak sneer when he felt Zechs stumble in surprise over the fact that he was still somewhat conscious. If Zechs gave a reply in return, Harry didn't hear it as he finally succumbed to the excessive amount of tranquilizer flooding his system.

* * *

Harry slowly came to and found himself lying in the middle of an unfamiliar bed in a vaguely familiar room sometime later. His stomach churned violently as he groggily rolled to one side, pushed himself up into a sitting position, and promptly puked on the expensive satin sheets he'd been lying on. The smell of the vile greenish-gray liquid (the remains of the tranquilizer that had been used on him) that poured from his mouth made him gag and he heaved several more times until there was nothing left inside of his stomach. Moving away from the mess he'd just made, Harry scanned the room and felt the memory of the events that had occurred after his most recent performance slam into the front of his mind as his eyes fell on the tuxedo he'd spurned prior to the dinner party.

"Merlin's boil covered scrotum," Harry spat vehemently as he used the top sheet to wipe the foul taste from his mouth.

Sliding onto the floor, Harry was almost happy to note that he was still in his show costume and that the only thing they'd removed from him was his shoes. He slipped those onto his feet down to cut the chill he could feel through the rug that covered the stone floor as he glanced about the room. He stared at the door leading out into the hallway outside of the room for a long minute before he turned his back on it and headed towards the bathroom. Once inside, he locked the handle and leaned back against the door as he felt the knot of dread from what he hoped was the night before return tenfold.

Closing his eyes, he fought to keep his breathing slow and steady as he tried not to worry about how long he'd been out. He also did his best not to think about what those people were doing to Trowa and Cathy least he give into the panic that was fluttering just at the edges of his mind. After ten minutes or so, Harry opened his eyes and pushed away from the door. He opened the shower and turned the hot water on as high as it would go so that the heat from the water would create enough steam to distort any images that could be picked up by the security cameras that Harry was pretty certain had been set up in the bathroom. Some people might think that Harry was just being overly paranoid but he wasn't since Duo had taught him just how easy it was to hide a camera in this world and then went on to teach him various ways to fool the cameras without giving away the fact that he knew they were there.

While he waited for the steam to rise, Harry dug through the cupboards looking for towels, soap, shampoo, shaving cream, a pair of disposable razors, toothpaste, mouthwash, and the extra rolls of toilet paper. Once the entire bathroom was thick with steam, Harry opened twelve toilet paper rolls and removed the cardboard tubes from the center. He discreetly used his wand to shrink the rolls with an intentionally sloppy spell that would degrade over a ten or fifteen minute period of time. Harry then emptied his bladder, tossed two of the shrunken rolls into the toilet, and flushed. He waited for the toilet tank to fill back up before he dumped another two rolls into the bowl and flushed a second time.

Next, Harry stepped into the shower (fully clothed) and removed the drain cover before he dropped two of the remaining rolls down the drain. While he gave those time to flow through the pipes; Harry grabbed the bottle of shampoo he'd found, took off the lid, cast a fast acting aeration spell on the contents, and quickly screwed the lid back onto the bottle before the spell could take effect. He then released another two shrunken rolls before shoving the shampoo bottle into the drain pipe lid first and promptly glued it in place with a temporary sticking charm and one of the hand towels he'd found.

Satisfied that he'd sabotaged the shower enough for one day, Harry slipped off his necklace of invisible trunks and opened up his supply trunk. He then hurried inside to grab a slice bezoar to deal with the last vestiges of the drug they'd used to knock him out, drank down a Pepper-Up Potion and a Strengthening Solution (a small part of him noting the fact that he'd put a large dent in his healing potion supplies over the past several months), and pocketed a single dungbomb. After a moment's consideration, he took the pistols that Heero had gifted to him, checked to make certain they were fully loaded, and tucked them both into the waist of his pants at the small of his back beneath his shirt just in case he needed them; for once thankful that Trowa had been teaching him how to shoot the weapons. Harry then hurried back up out of his trunk, turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower stall.

His next target was the sink that he sent the last four rolls of toilet paper down one at a time before taking the time to use the mouthwash to rinse the taste of the potions and bile from his mouth. Following those ticking time bombs was an entire tube of toothpaste that was hit with a quick-dry spell to block up the drain. He took a moment, while the room was still filled with steam, to clean and dry the clothes he was wearing with a spell before changing the color of his shirt from solid green to Gryffindor red and added the pictures of a statuesque stag, a smirking dog, and a large howling wolf on the back in honor of his father, godfather, and honorary uncle who'd taught him the spells for the pranks he was setting up (through Sirius's memories).

He then levitated two cans of shaving cream above the door where he used another sticking charm to hold them in place so they were aimed towards the floor side by side. Next, Harry opened the door just a crack and stuck the disposable razors to the door in such a way that when the door was closed, the razors would press up against the buttons to release the shaving cream from the cans. Lastly, Harry cast a low powered warming charm, followed by another aeration spell on the shaving cream cans (cast into the small spigot so that it hit the contents inside) to agitate the product for maximum effect.

Harry then tucked the two bars of soap and another can of shaving cream into his pocket not holding the prank bomb, opened the door just wide enough to slip out, and shut the door with a sharp snap to activate the shaving cream prank. Wiping the smirk from his face, Harry scowled at his gilded prison and searched every wall carefully; noting that there were no windows which meant the room was somewhere in the middle of the castle. He then pulled out the dungbomb, leaned down to set it on the floor, and kicked it under the bed where it would go off in approximately ten or fifteen minutes.

He was just contemplating his next friendly prank (read act of destructive vandalism) when he spotted a television screen that he could have sworn hadn't been in the room prior to his productive trip to the bathroom. Inching closer, Harry contemplated the seemingly benign bit of technology before dismissing it as irrelevant. He'd just turned his back on the thing when it powered on by itself, making Harry snap around to stare at the image that now appeared on the screen.

"Good morning, boy; I trust you slept well last night?" Treize greeted sardonically. "Now that you are awake it is time that you and I have a little discussion. There is an escort waiting for you outside of your door; they will guide you to me. And just in case you are thinking of pulling any cute stunts, like you did last night, I will leave you with a little gift to remind you of your place."

Already upset at being called boy, Harry was positively livid when the image changed to show Trowa tied to a chair in the middle of an otherwise empty room. His brother's head was bowed and Harry couldn't tell if he was conscious or not but the message the image was meant to convey was loud and clear. The can of shaving cream he'd tucked into his pocket punched a hole through the screen two seconds later as Harry's rage got the better of him and he threw the can at the television (a thread of accidental magic adding power to his throw to make it punch through the screen). The satisfying crunch of the monitor cracking under the assault and the brief sizzle as the electronics shorted out made Harry only feel marginally better as he turned and stalked to the door.

The door opened before he could even touch the handle and Harry glared daggers at the pair of soldiers that were clearly expecting him. Only the knowledge that Trowa was being held hostage against his good behavior allowed Harry to put a temporary leash on his temper as he grudgingly allowed the two men to lead him through the halls (one walking in front of him while the other followed on his heels). They had just reached a set of stairs leading up to a higher floor when a muffled whump sounded through the castle and it was all Harry could do not to smirk beneath the knowledge that his shampoo bomb could be considered a success. The two soldiers escorting him exchanged nervous glances over Harry's head before they continued on their way and Harry absently wondered if the toilet paper plugs had simply stopped up several pipes or if any of them had possibly ruptured a few lines.

_Prank one complete Prongs and Padfoot,_ Harry thought to himself as he schooled his face to hide both his smugness over the successful deployment of his first official Marauder Level Prank and his simmering rage over the unspoken threat being held over Trowa's head. _We should have the damage report within the hour so the prank can be properly rated on Moony's Mayhem and Madness Scale._

* * *

When Trowa finally regained consciousness, the first thing he registered was the fact that he felt like shit. His head was pounding, his mouth tasted like he'd been gargling with used motor oil and jet fuel, and his stomach was all twisted up in knots. Additionally, his brain didn't want to work, his eyes felt like someone had poured sand in them before gluing them shut, and the rest of his body felt like it was encased in wet cement.

As coherent thought slowly returned; he noted that there was an uncomfortable tightness around his ankles, his hands were secured awkwardly behind his back, there was something digging painfully into inside of his upper arms, and he was wearing a gag. It didn't take him long to come to the conclusion that he'd been drugged at some point during or after the forced dinner party and that he was currently tied to a chair. His thoughts then immediately turned to concern over what had happened to Cathy and Harry.

A bucket of ice cold water splashing over him without warning helped Trowa clear the last of the cobwebs out of his mind and he shook his head, coughed a couple of times to clear the small bit of water he'd breathed in, and peeled open his eyes to find Treize, Zechs, Une, and a couple of unfamiliar soldiers watching him. He took heart in the fact that the three familiar faces looked far less than pleased and hoped that meant that Harry had found a way to escape. That brought a feral smirk to his lips as he focused on Zechs and Treize.

A soft, muffled moan off to his right caught his attention and Trowa's heart sank a bit when he turned to find Cathy in the same predicament that he was in (minus the recent shower). He'd hoped that she might have been let go because she was completely innocent; the only thing she was guilty of was being their partner for the performances they'd given over the past five weeks. Knowing both of them had been captured, Trowa began twisting his head around every which way in and effort to search the room for some sign of Harry. He wasn't certain whether he should feel relief or trepidation over the fact that there was no sign of the pint-sized seventeen year old.

"Don't worry; we've given the foul mouthed brat special accommodations of his own," Lady Une coolly announced with a smug sneer once Trowa turned his attention back to those standing in front of him.

Trowa growled and lurched against his bonds as he glared hatefully at the woman who had heartlessly taken the Colonies hostage during the transport ambushes over a month earlier which in turn had ultimately led to their current situation. A hundred blistering curses passed over his tongue and were swallowed by the gag stuffed in his mouth but the basic sentiment had been delivered if the distasteful looks that passed over their faces were any indication. He continued to fight against the ropes until he heard a muffled whimper. Snapping his head to the side he met Cathy's frightened eyes as the soldier behind her held her by the hair as he pressed the barrel of a gun to her temple. Growling a second time, Trowa ceased struggling as he swung back to glare at Treize once more.

"Glad to see we understand each other," Treize murmured with feigned politeness. "I have a few rules you will need to abide by so please pay close attention; are you ready?"

Trowa took a couple of slow, deep breaths as he struggled to find the cold calm he used to constantly exude before Harry had thawed his heart and broken down the barriers around his emotions after they'd taken refuge with the circus. Once he felt he was in control, he gave a single sharp nod to indicate that he was listening (even if he would have preferred to punch Treize in the face instead); his face once more a blank slate.

"Perfect. Rule number one is very simple; you will do what you are told, when you are told or the lovely young woman beside you will suffer the consequences. We won't be asking much of you though, so please don't worry yourself needlessly. After all; you are nothing more than a bargaining chip."

Trowa silently seethed without allowing his emotions to show as he immediately understood what was being implied; he would live only so long as he was useful to OZ. His cooperation was being bought with Cathy's health and safety so that Trowa could be used to buy the cooperation of the Gundam Pilots with Harry's life somewhere in the equation. He'd just been given the dirty dick of dexterity; he was going to get screwed no matter what he did.

"I see there is no need to explain further; wonderful," Treize praised in a patronizing tone that grated on Trowa's nerves. "Moving on, rule two; you will keep a civil tongue in your mouth at all times. And finally, rule number three; you will encourage the child you claim is your brother to cooperate with us."

Trowa bowed his head in seeming defeat as he fought the frustration he could feel pooling in his stomach. He felt as if he'd failed Harry and the other pilots that had trusted him to keep the child-like wizard safe. He could have vanished the moment they'd learned about the private performance and taken Harry with him and they would have been miles away before anyone realized they were gone. Instead, he'd arrogantly thought that they could get away with carrying on with the show without anyone recognizing Harry.

He never should have allowed Harry to perform in the first place; that was his first mistake. He should have taken Harry and walked away instead of allowing the ringmaster to put Harry in the ring where anybody could have seen him; his guilt completely blinding him to the fact that it had actually been Harry himself that had agreed to perform.

* * *

Unaware of the predicament that Trowa and Harry had ended up in, Wufei and Duo were carefully making their separate ways back to the Winner Estate in Saudi Arabia; their progress agonizingly slow as they continuously were forced to evade the OZ troops that were searching for them and their fellow pilots. Both of them were worried about what was happening with the others but were far too focused on not getting caught to dwell on the continued silence.

At the Estate, Quatre buried himself in his responsibilities to his family in order to escape the guilt, depression, and self directed anger that Heero radiated constantly since the agreed upon radio silence had passed without any updates on the status of the others. Heero locked himself away and endlessly hacked into OZ's servers hunting for the smallest kernel of information that would indicate that OZ had picked up any of their fellow pilots or, more importantly, that Harry had been captured.

The complete lack of information was not as reassuring as one would think; the once perfect soldier finding the absence of information far more serious since there should have been _something_; a picture, a report, or an order to find the 'pilot' of the 'destroyed' Gundam. That there was nothing at all to be found only made Heero far more anxious and the lack of an update from Trowa on Harry's condition only compounded the matter.

* * *

**AN:** _This chapter was a pain to write as I tried not to make Harry too strong. He'd also been handicapped due to his oath because of the order that Heero had given him regarding his magic (and yes, I realize that particular scene between Harry and Heero was not actually written out – which is why I'd referenced it in the chapter). I'd wanted to add in more about what the other pilots had been doing all this time but I just couldn't come up with enough for them to do to make adding that in feasible and the small blurb I did manage feels rough and unfinished but I didn't want to not mention them at all. _

_The reason why Harry and Trowa didn't just go home at the end of the agreed upon month of silence will be explained in the next chapter so I'm not going to say anything here; though I'm sure a few of you might guess. I'll try to have it up by Friday but no promises because that chapter gave me nearly as many fits as this one and I'm still hemming and hawing over whether or not I'm happy with the direction the story shoots off in from that point. The only problem is that trying to fix it now would throw off everything I've written afterwards and I really don't want to try rewriting all of it because that would be over 300,000 words that I'd have to fix. _

_Anyway, I doubt I'll make any significant changes to the story at this point but I will at least try to clean up what I have and smooth out any rough parts. Which is why it might take me a little longer to post it. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the brief bit of action and mayhem that I squeezed in. I will be answering reviews from the last chapter tomorrow along with any reviews left for this chapter as I've got things I need to do before Turkey Day (which mostly involves making certain the kitchen is ready for the cooking marathon that will start tomorrow night). ~ Jenn_


	20. A Padfoot Pardon from Prison

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

***** WARNING *****

_This chapter gets a little intense towards the end where there is one mention of molestation, intended rape (meaning that it almost happened but didn't), and a slight escalation of violence and as such some of you may find that scene and what follows it a bit disturbing. I kept the details as vague as possible and tried to avoid giving any gory details but to cut the scene completely would have detracted from intensity of emotions that the scene is intended to invoke. _

_Further explanations can be found at the end of the chapter. For those who will undoubtedly be offended, I apologize but this story has been marked as mature from the beginning and I've always tried to post warnings at the top of each chapter as necessary so you can't say you weren't warned unless you don't bother reading the warnings._

* * *

Chapter 19: A Padfoot Pardon from Prison

After being led through a maze of endless hallways for about an hour, the two soldiers led Harry into a rather opulent office and this time Harry allowed his disgust and disdain for the gaudy décor to show on his face as he took in the gold chased linen wallpaper, the expensive hardwood paneling on both wall and floor, the scattered Persian rugs, and famous artwork hanging on the walls. Harry's lips curled up in distaste as he noted the large desk and accompanying gilded chair sitting in front of the wide windows of the east wall reminded Harry of the desk in Dumbledore's office and the gaudy golden throne that Dumbledore had sat upon during meals. Distaste that was soon extended to include the coldly handsome man sitting behind said desk.

Along with his two escorts, who had taken up a watchful stance just behind and to either side of Harry, there were another two soldiers stationed on either side of the door through which Harry had entered (and yet another pair standing guard outside of the door). To either side of Treize's chair, stood Lucrezia Noin and Lady Une; the former staring at Harry with a trace of disquiet and the latter with cold calculation. Just to the right of the desk, standing with his arms folded across his chest and wearing his ever present mask, was Zechs Merquise and Harry warily kept one eye on the man as he automatically assumed him to be the biggest threat.

"I just received a report of the wanton destruction that you indulged in this morning and you are clearly laboring under the misconception that I will allow you to continue the destructive behavior you first demonstrated last night," Treize stated as he leaned back in his chair, set his left elbow on the arm rest, and propped his chin upon his left thumb and index finger. "Allow me to set the record straight…"

Harry interrupted with a snort and gave an exaggerated yawn as he adopted a bored expression while allowing his eyes to wander about the room (silently rating his prank as a solid nine because of the underlying irritation he could hear in Treize's voice). He really had no interest in listening to the man's diatribe as he had no intention of doing what the man said regardless of how he thought to blackmail Harry into doing what he wanted. Nor would Harry allow the man to get away with threatening Cathy and Trowa and heaven help the bastard if he had harmed either of the taller teens.

"Zechs, if you would?"

Harry let his gaze slip sideways to follow the masked man as he walked to the large screen set into the northern wall and turned it on. Harry narrowed his eyes when a split image came into focus on the screen; one half depicting the same image of Trowa (only it looked as if someone had just hosed the teen down) that he'd seen earlier while the other half displayed Cathy in a similar state (minus the water). As he watched the two images, a pair of soldiers entered the pictures from somewhere off to the side and positioned themselves behind Trowa and Cathy before announcing that they were waiting for orders.

Fury dropped Harry's chin to his chest as he closed his eyes and fought to retain control of himself as silently told himself, _The others would not want me to strike out blindly and risk getting Trowa or Cathy injured and Heero has ordered me to not reveal my magic carelessly. If I want to help them I have to be smart about it. _

"There are two simple rules you will need to follow in order to insure the health of your companions," Treize began again after nearly five minutes of tense silence had past and Harry turned his head slightly back towards the man as he opened his eyes and lifted them just enough to stare up at Treize over his glasses through his fringe. "Firstly; you will answer any question you are asked. For every question you refuse to answer the young man you call brother will have a finger broken. If he runs out of fingers we will simply start on the rest of his body. And secondly; you will follow any orders you are given to the letter. Any order you disobey (whether intentionally or unintentionally) will result in the young woman suffering the same fate. So long as you cooperate they will remain unharmed. Do you understand?"

Harry let his eyes return to the monitor and this time he saw Trowa's artificially mismatched eyes filled with pain and regret staring right at the camera and the defiance and determination that had allowed Harry to face a Voldemort possessed Quirrell in his first year, a deadly basilisk and Voldemort's shade in his second, soul sucking dementors in his third, and everything that had happened in his fourth year filled Harry once more. Taking a deep breath, Harry lowered his head once more in seeming submission as he turned so that he was facing the screen; his entire body trembling as the tenuous control on his temper slipped slightly despite his earlier resolve not to act brashly over the threat that had just been voiced.

"I understand," Harry whispered sharply, his voice cutting through the office like a whip. "I understand that you just made a huge miscalculation." Harry snapped his head up and stared straight at Trowa, an invisible aura of rage surrounding him as he raised his voice and loudly declared, "I will never cooperate with you; so long as my brother and my friend are being held prisoner by you and your slip-shod minions, I will fight you with every breath I take."

"Each day the two of them remain imprisoned I will destroy one room inside of this castle. Each time a new bruise mars their skin I will poison one of your soldiers and make them wish for death. Each time you cause my family physical pain I will permanently maim one of your soldiers in the most painful way possible. Each broken bone you inflict upon Trowa and Cathy, will see me killing one of your soldiers without remorse. And should you spill a single drop of their blood I will raze this entire castle so completely that they will still be searching for your broken body a thousand years from now."

"I think you're bluffing," Lady Une sneered as her hand flashed up and signaled to the soldier standing behind Trowa.

Harry watched the man step forward with a sadistic grin and grab hold of Trowa's left hand. Even before the man had finished snapping Trowa's left pinky finger, Harry had one of his throwing knives in his hand. A loud thud coming from behind Harry coincided with Trowa's grunt of pain and Cathy's short, sharp scream as she stared at her camera with wide-eyed fear; indicating that they both could clearly see and hear what was happening inside of the office where Harry was standing. Harry kept his eyes on Trowa for a minute longer before he slowly turned to face Treize who was staring at the dead soldier on the floor in mild shock.

"Still think I'm bluffing?" Harry inquired as he studiously ignored the dead man who was bleeding all over the floor from the hole in his neck where Harry's knife had pierced the man's jugular and fought to beat back the nausea he felt churning his stomach.

"I would not have thought a child like you to be capable of committing cold blooded murder," Zechs quietly mused as he studied Harry as if seeing him for the first time.

"Since when is exterminating vermin considered murder?" Harry asked in a childish voice filled with feigned innocence as he pasted an expression of puzzled curiosity on his face.

"Why was the boy not striped of his knives last night as instructed?" Treize demanded tightly as he finally recovered his voice.

"We… we couldn't get close enough to him to search him, sir," the other half of Harry's escort meekly explained.

"He was unconscious you nitwit! What could he have possibly done?"

Harry hissed once and laughed softly, drawing everyone's attention back to him as two triangular heads followed by two sleek bodies slipped out from the neck of his shirt and circled his shoulders. When he noticed he had their attention he softly drawled, "I have a riddle for you… there were exactly eighty venomous snakes brought onto the castle grounds for our act; every single one of them just as dangerously beautiful and deadly as my pretty little Belladonna and her friend Rusty here; who I kept with me along with a couple others when I climbed out of the snake crate. Do you know where the other seventy some snakes disappeared to once the show was over? Funny thing about snakes; like the prey they seek to devour they are capable of slipping through seemingly impossible cracks and while they always seek warmth they willingly travel through the shadows as they stalk their next meal."

"It seems we've come to a bit of an impasse," Treize murmured as he leaned forward to prop his elbows on his desk as he nestled his chin on top of thumbs and contemplated Harry over the top of his interwoven fingers. "I can't allow you to walk free and you refuse to cooperate which means your two companions are useless to me."

"I don't see what is so complicated… it's really simple and straight forward on what needs to happen," Harry countered as he scratched Belladonna beneath her chin and once more let his eyes seek out Trowa. "You release my family or I will make your life a living hell while the scumbags that work for you will suffer for your sins if you choose to ignore my warning."

"I am still left with a distinct lack of cooperation on your part even if I choose comply with your demands."

There was no point in responding to that statement, so Harry ignored it completely as he continued to lavish attention on the two adders curled around his neck and shoulders as he silently kept his eyes on the pilot that he'd grown so close to over the last six weeks. Beneath Harry's skin, his magic roiled with the suppressed fury that Harry was barely holding in check through sheer will power while his stomach churned endlessly as the coppery stench of freshly split blood clogged his nose.

"I could always have them put to death instead."

"And then there would be nothing to stop me from unleashing the full extent of my fury," Harry replied in a low hiss that was filled with pure venom as he snapped his head around to glare at Treize. "The ties that bind me to my family are the only thing that ground me and should they be torn from me; there is no place on god's green earth or out in the frozen wastelands of space that you will be able to hide from my wrath."

"I see," Treize stated slowly as he sat up and turned to address one of the two women in the room. "Noin, please escort our young guest's companions from the property; it appears they are no longer needed."

"You can't seriously be considering giving into…" Lady Une protested only to cut off at a sharp gesture from Treize.

"How do I know you are actually letting them go free? How do you expect me to trust you to keep your word after the lengths you went through to take us last night?" Harry demanded on the heels of Une's unfinished protest.

"I will give you my word as a gentleman."

"And you're a feeble-minded fop of a flobberworm if you think I'm going to fall for that load of crup crap," Harry barked as he scowled at Treize. "I will believe that you have kept your word when I can physically see that the two people you are escorting from the castle are my family. And that doesn't mean you that stuff me in another windowless room and set me up with another useless video feed. If you are going to separate me from my family the least you can do is allow me to say a proper goodbye."

Several long minutes passed as Treize and Harry glared at each other before the older man ordered, "Noin; gather a squad and escort the young man and woman to the front gate. Zechs; you will be in charge of escorting our young guest so that he might say his goodbyes."

Harry turned back to the screen to watch Trowa with worried eyes as Zechs approached him and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. He gave a near silent hiss to Belladonna and Rusty to send them back into the folds of his shirt with their three hidden companions and tensed as Zechs reached out to take hold of his arm as the man clipped one cuff around his left wrist before pulling his arm behind his back. Bile rose up in the back of his throat as the masked man took hold of his right arm and pulled it back and snapped the second cuff in place.

The man then wrapped an iron grip around his upper left arm and steered him out of the room. Harry tossed one last glance over his shoulder towards the screen only for the screen to turn black as the connection was cut. Harry continued to offer no resistance as he was escorted through the maze of hallways once more; he'd gotten what he wanted. A dark cloud engulfed his entire being though as he finally allowed himself to think of the man he'd just killed in cold blood and he stumbled over his feet as a wave of self disgust swept through him.

He probably would have fallen on his face if not for Zechs' hand firmly holding onto his arm; as it was it took several minutes for him to regain his balance. A lead weight settled in the pit of his stomach and Harry tucked his chin to his chest and closed his eyes; allowing his body to move on autopilot as his guard deftly guided him through the castle. It was the sound of Cathy and Trowa calling his name that pulled Harry back into reality sometime later.

He glanced up as Zechs pulled him to a stop and Harry let his eyes search both teens for any sign they'd been hurt beyond the broken finger Harry knew Trowa had suffered. He then fearfully gazed up into Trowa's face, frightened that he'd see nothing but disgust in the other teen's eyes, only to feel the back of his eyes sting with the pressure of building tears as he found nothing but worry and concern. Letting out a half strangled sob, Harry tore his arm free from Zechs' hand and threw himself across the distance separating him from Trowa.

"I'm sorry, Trowa…" Harry whispered as he pressed his face against Trowa's stomach.

"Not your fault, little brother," Trowa whispered in reply as he pulled Harry close in a one-sided hug (Harry's hands still cuffed behind his back).

"You're one of the best big brother's a kid could ask for and I'll never forget everything you've taught me. I don't know what I'm going to do when you're gone but I couldn't stand the thought of them hurting you because of me."

"I understand, Harry; I understand. I'm just sorry I got you into this mess in the first place."

Harry leaned back and gave Trowa a weak smile as he reluctantly stepped out of his brother's arms and timidly turned to face Cathy. He was relieved when he found no trace of revulsion in her troubled eyes and he willingly stepped into her arms for the first time as she held them out to him all the while wishing he could hug her back. He couldn't help but sniffle a bit at the pain that was filling his heart in that moment.

"Thank you for everything, Cathy; I never really had any one properly mother me before and it was nice while it lasted. Don't let the ringmaster stuff Beauty back into the tiny cage, okay. And please watch over my brother for me… don't let him play the stupid Heero, alright?"

"Oh, Harry, you don't have to…"

"Yes, I do," Harry interrupted as he gazed up into Cathy's tear stained face; his eyes shimmering with unshed tears and a mixture of determination and desperation. "It would kill me if something happened to either of you. So long as I know the two of you are safe, then it doesn't matter what happens to me."

It was at that moment that Zechs decided that their small reunion and tearful goodbye had gone on long enough as he stepped forward and once again took hold of Harry's arm, dragging Harry out of Cathy's arms as the eight soldiers and Noin surrounded the two taller teens and herded them out the door. Zechs allowed Harry to follow as far as the threshold as he maintained his iron grip on Harry's arm. Numbness crept through Harry's mind and body as he watched the two people he'd come to consider part of the mismatched family he'd found in this world being taken from him.

He would have stood there staring after them long after they'd disappeared from his view if not for Zechs pulling him away from the door. Once again Harry didn't bother taking in any of his environs as he stumbled along beside Zechs. He couldn't find it in himself to really care where he was being taken as the pain of being separated from Trowa competed with the growing numbness; his earlier fury over Trowa's imprisonment fading quickly now that the pilot and his friend were no longer in any immediate danger (unaware that Treize was having the two of them followed thinking one of them would lead his troops to one of the Gundam Suits before being retaken into custody).

It wasn't until he was propelled into an informal dining room that was modestly decorated in comparison to the formal dining room from the night before and Treize's office that Harry managed to pull himself together enough to pay attention to his surroundings. He stared around the room apathetically as he felt Zechs remove the handcuff from his right wrist; a small part of him feeling apprehensive about what would happen to him now.

As he was maneuvered into the nearest chair, a ghost of a smirk briefly crossed his face as the empty cuff was immediately secured to the left arm rest in order to prevent Harry from going very far. It was a small acknowledgement of the havoc that Harry had created the night before when he'd attempted to resist capture and just a short while earlier in retaliation for Treize having himself and the others captured.

Harry cringed in his seat when a waiter appeared and dropped a plate of food down in front of him. The unexpected looming presence of the man sharply reminding him of the unexpected attack the night before, when they'd first tried to drug him. Untrusting of everyone and everything around him, Harry watched the man's every move like a cornered wolf as he finished delivering what Harry assumed was meant to be his breakfast. His eyes continued to track the man as he withdrew, going so far as to lean around the side of the chair to mark his retreat from the room.

"Eat."

The softly delivered order had Harry turning back around in his seat and staring across the table where Zechs was leaning back in a chair with his right ankle propped on his left knee and his left elbow braced on the arm of the chair as he watched Harry through the opaque eyes of the mask the man never seemed to take off. Harry then dropped his eyes down to the plate sitting in front of him and noted the pile of scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, a few strips of bacon, and half a dozen orange wedges arranged artfully on the plate. The sight and scent of the food only made Harry's stomach twist and churn though and he reached out and shoved the plate away from him.

He then pulled his legs up onto the chair, turned sideways so that he could watch both the door to the room and the man sitting across from him, and leaned his head against the back of the chair as he listlessly tapped the metal cuff on his left wrist against the one that secured him to the chair. Twenty minutes later, found both man and de-aged teen still sitting in the exact same positions.

The tableau was broken just seconds later when the door opened and Treize entered with both Une and Noin in tow and Harry paused in his ceaseless clanking for fifteen full seconds before he resumed. Harry felt a minor trill of satisfaction when the three newcomers all scowled in his direction over the mildly irritating sound (or maybe just over his very existence) but did his best not to let them know their annoyance pleased him. It was probably petty of him but he didn't care at this point.

"If you do not eat what is in front of you; you will get nothing else to eat for the rest of the day," Treize declared as he noted Harry's untouched plate.

"Whatever," Harry replied in an uncaring tone as he lazily spun around in the chair to track Treize as the man crossed the length of the room and passed behind the chair he was cuffed to; the threat of a missed meal or three nothing new – the Dursleys had trained him to expect little in the way of creature comforts and trained him well. He then began sliding the cuff hooked to the arm of the chair back and forth so that the metal was scraping against the wood; adding just enough pressure to scrape the varnish and stain from the chair's arm with each pass of metal against wood.

"So be it," Treize announced as he signaled for the plate to be removed. "I imagine you are probably wondering why we went through the trouble of taking you into our custody."

Harry glanced up from where he was methodically stripping the stain and varnish from the arm of the chair he was cuffed to, tilted his head to one side, and simply waited for the man to continue. Only, instead of saying anything further the man simply gestured to Lady Une and the woman deposited a thick stack of eight by ten glossy photos onto the table in front of Harry. Harry swept his eyes over the top image to see a close up of him standing on the small ramp leading into the cockpit of Wing and had to fight to keep his breathing calm as he sat back in the chair and returned to his minor act of vandalism as if the picture meant nothing to him.

"Aren't you interested in seeing what other photos are there?"

"No, I don't need to see photos of some kid I've never met to know you have an unhealthy interest in little boys," Harry blandly declared.

"You should know that we've done our research and we made no mistake; no amount of bluffing and blustering on your part is going to change that," Zechs stated as he leaned across the table to spread the pictures out across the table. "You may have died your hair and slipped on a color contact but there is no mistaking that scar."

Eyes unwillingly drawn back to the photographs a second time, Harry noted that each and every one of them were fairly clear full body close ups of himself. There were several more from the day of failed mission to destroy the Taurus transports (both before and after the explosion), a few of Harry still looking like himself with his left leg and arm still in casts standing in the middle of Beauty's old cage, several more of Harry with his new look in Beauty's new cage, and various ones of him in the ring performing. In each of the photos bar the one that had been on the very top of the stack, someone had taken a red marker and circled the very unique lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead.

"As you can see, Harry, we know exactly who you are."

"So you have a few pictures; shall I write the press and demand they give you a fucking award for creative stalking? I really don't see how having a few photos equates to knowing a fucking thing about me either."

"Watch your mouth, brat," Lady Une growled as she loomed over Harry from behind his chair.

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Torture me? Or maybe wash my mouth out with soap and send me to bed without dessert?" Harry shot back as he slipped a knife out from his left sleeve and whispered a soft order to two of the snakes inside of his shirt before he craned his head around to glare at the woman. As two scaled heads slipped free from his collar Harry spat, "You made a mistake if you think I'm going to be easily cowed by the likes of you, you blithering bitch of a banshee."

Lady Une lifted her hand as if to strike Harry and Harry actually smiled a cold smile at her as he rose up on his knees, pulling the chain of the handcuffs taut as he softly dared, "Go a head and try it… if you think you can get away with it before Belladonna and Rusty sink their fangs into your flesh. Did you know that most vipers can accurately strike a target at a distance of up to six times their own body length? How good are your reflexes? I'm willing to bet that you'll not even have a chance to strike me before my snakes inject you with enough venom to kill an elephant in less than a minute."

"Stand down, Une," Treize quietly ordered before she could attempt to carry out her unspoken threat or test Harry's latest supposed bluff.

"Nice to know you've almost got your ugly mongrels housebroken and at least partially trained. I hope you were responsible and got them spayed as well because no one wants see ugly and stupid reproduce."

"I had hoped we could come to a peaceful accord, boy," Treize began only to snap his mouth shut as he dove to the left to avoid the blade Harry had thrown at him. The man slowly stood up and glanced at the knife now imbedded in his chair about where his head had been before turning a razor sharp glare in Harry's direction.

"Listen up you poisonously pompous pignut; I'm only going to tell you once where you can stick your pathetically patronizing platitude…"

"You seem like a rather intelligent young man," Treize interrupted angrily as he stalked around the chair where Harry's knife was still imbedded in the back rest with a stormy expression as he closed the distance between them. "So I will not waste any more time beating about the bush. I'll give you choice; and don't think you can outmaneuver me a second time. You can keep a civil tongue in your mouth and cooperate with us and be treated as a guest or we can treat you like a common criminal and throw you in the dungeon where you will remain indefinitely unless we bring you out for questioning. I will give you one minute to decide before I take matters into my own hands and I promise you that you will not like how I deal with matters."

"You know… I think I'll go with the dungeons… I think the air will be cleaner down there instead of up here in the cesspool with the hoards of walking, talking excrement."

"So be it," Treize declared grimly. "Zechs; he's all yours. Mind you strip him of his knives and any vermin he's carrying with him."

Harry snapped his head around as the masked man rose from his seat and began moving around the table in his direction and Harry let his eyes dart around the room once; taking in everyone's position. A glimpse of his reflection in the window gave him his only avenue of escape and he burst into action before Zechs had rounded the first corner of the table. Pulling out one of the pistols that Heero had given him for his birthday, Harry snapped the chain of the handcuffs with a single shot and scrambled up onto the table as he fired off a half dozen bullets at the window directly across from the chair he'd been chained to, shattering the glass.

Dashing across the table towards the now open window, Harry sprang for his freedom (uncaring that he had no idea how high up in the castle they were) only to feel himself being grabbed midair and thrown back across the room by Zechs who'd dashed back around the table the moment Harry had started moving. Not willing to give up, Harry rolled back up onto his feet and dashed forward again; pulling out more of his throwing knives and casting them as fast as he could at all four individuals in the room as he headed towards the window a second time. This time he actually had his hand on the sill and was thrusting his legs up into the air to vault out when he was grabbed by the back of his collar and thrown away from the window yet again; the broken glass of the window slicing through the palm of his hand as it was dragged sideways while he was still holding the frame.

Rolling across the floor to a stop beneath the table, Harry shook his head to clear away the dizziness and drunkenly climbed back up onto his feet only to immediately drop back to the floor as Une made to grab him. He reached out and grabbed hold of the nearest chair by the legs and slammed it side ways into her and managed to knock her from her feet. He then scrambled out from under the table and charged towards the only door leading out of the room.

The door opened a heartbeat later and a squad of soldiers poured into the room in response to the earlier gunshots and Harry was forced to skid to a stop least he plow right into their outstretched arms. As the grim faced men began moving forward, Harry brought his pistol up a second time and emptied the rest of the clip into their midst causing them to scatter. His fear and anger allowing him to completely block out the pained cries and spilled blood that were the result of the bullets he fired connecting with flesh. A hand ripped the pistol from his grip at the same time he fired the last bullet and Harry ducked to the side to avoid being grabbed at the same time.

Taking off across the room, he headed for a lone soldier that looked more than a little nervous and dove forward onto the floor so that he slid between man's legs before he bounced back up onto his feet and aimed for the broken window once again. Treize jumped directly into his path this time and Harry threw himself into a sideways roll that had him skidding across the table once more to avoid the sword the man was wielding. His momentum carried him all the way across the table where he slammed into the chair that Treize had been sitting in earlier and pulled free his knife as he jumped to the floor.

He then immediately jumped to the left to avoid both Noin and Une as he headed for the nearest window and pulled out his second pistol so he could smash its glass. Time seemed to slow down as he felt hands grab the back of his shirt at the same time as Une grabbed hold of his left arm and jerked him sideways. His eyes followed Rusty's path as the adder launched himself at Une only for him to witness the snake exploding before his eyes as Une fired her gun at point blank range.

His feet were then lifted clear of the floor as Une swung him around while twisting his arm as his shirt was torn from his back, spilling two of the other snakes onto the floor where they promptly met the same fate as Rusty. Time then sped back up as his back and head crashed into the window hard enough to crack it but not shatter it before he was dropped painfully to the floor. Une then brought his left arm back and up as she rolled him onto his stomach and dropped a knee down on the middle of his back as she pressed her gun to the back of his head.

Harry didn't make a single sound as he stared at the shredded remains of the three adders that had willingly followed him simply because they enjoyed the free mice and adored being the center of attention. He offered no resistance as the rest of his clothes were striped from him in their quest to remove all of his remaining weapons. The remaining two snakes tried to protect him but Treize expertly beheaded them with his sword before they could even bite anyone. Harry cried out against the senseless deaths as he watched Belladonna's head roll to a stop right in front of his face.

He then let out a keening whine as he finally felt the hands running all over him as they searched for and removed the rest of his knives but it was cut off fairly quickly when Une boxed his ear and told him to shut up and hold still. Harry's wand was inadvertently protected from the same fate as his knives by Lady Une due to the way she was holding his left arm across his back; the invisible lower arm holster that Trowa had helped him make several weeks earlier digging reassuringly into his back.

His eyes had gone glassy and unseeing by the time they re-cuffed his hands behind his back and pulled him up onto his feet. His legs refused to hold his weight though and someone ended up lifting him up off the ground before tossing him over their shoulder in a fireman carry but Harry still didn't react. He never saw the destruction he'd wrought in the small dining room in such a short amount of time nor did he see the dead and injured soldiers he'd shot in his attempt to escape; all he could see were mangled bodies of the five snakes that had tried to protect him.

* * *

Trowa grabbed hold of the bars of the gate as it swung shut to lock them off of the castle grounds, a pained expression on his usually stoic face. He kept seeing Harry's dejected stance as he was half dragged down the hall by Zechs and the tortured look in his eyes when the kid had finally looked up. It brought to mind the night he and Duo had spent listening to Harry speak about his nightmares just before they infiltrated New Edwards Base when Harry had still been having difficulty coming to terms with the lives he'd taken during the disastrous mission to reclaim Harry's belongings from his island cave.

Trowa knew that Harry had not been as unaffected by the death of the soldier as he'd pretended to be while standing in front of Treize. He'd actually been more than a little shocked that Harry had followed through on what he'd been certain had been intended as a bluff. Trowa well remembered how Harry had balked over learning how to use and clean the various guns he kept on hand and how long it had taken the pint-sized teen to grow comfortable enough just handling the guns let alone learning how to shoot them (while he knew Harry saw the knives more as dangerous toys than weapons). He briefly wondered if he'd been wrong to teach Harry how to handle weapons before he shoved the thought away.

"You need to leave," Noin announced as she watched Trowa through the gate.

"Please, you have no right to take him. He's just a kid… he hasn't done anything wrong," Trowa growled out.

"Just a kid?" Noin spat back with unexpected venom. "That damned kid cut down a man in coldblooded murder without any hesitation just now! He didn't even give the soldier a chance to defend himself. He crippled a number of other soldiers last night without blinking an eye!"

"He never would have done it if you people hadn't used that farce of a dinner party last night to take us hostage or if that cold hearted bitch hadn't called his bluff and found out first hand that he wasn't bluffing; so don't blame my brother for trying to protect himself or for following through on the warning he gave. You people have no right to judge him after all of the murders you have committed!"

"Trowa, please, this isn't helping," Cathy pleaded as she grabbed his arm and began dragging the younger teen away when Noin pulled out a pistol and leveled it at Trowa through the gate. "Harry wouldn't want you to throw your life away for nothing. We'll find some other way to get him back."

Trowa allowed her to pull him away, his mind once again going numb as the knowledge that he'd just left Harry in OZ's hands sank in. When they finally reached the circus, Trowa stared up at the large marquis that declared the Siblings of the Knife (the stage name for their act) would be performing for one week only with Harry's, Trowa's, and Cathy's names written out and a number of posters with their picture plastered on the posts of the signboard.

Trowa stared at the picture of the three of them and he couldn't help but see how happy each of them had been in the most recent version of the poster. Harry had grown to love performing in front of the crowds, he'd completely come out of his shell after they'd started performing. Trowa had never heard Harry's laughter ring as loud or as long as it did when the kid would dart out of the ring with him hot on his heels after getting hit in the head with one of those blasted juggling balls one too many times over the course of their performance.

It had been that laughter and the undisguised joy filling Harry's emerald eyes that had prompted the pilot to put off returning to the Winner Estate (or even contacting the others) when the one month of agreed upon silence had come and gone. He hadn't been able to bring himself to smother the life he'd seen replace the hopelessness, self-loathing, and anger that had once filled the smaller teen's eyes. He also hadn't been blind to his own happiness in living for nothing but the next show and he knew that Harry had been the one to change him. He doubted any of his fellow pilots could have stepped into his shoes and avoided being caught up in the excitement that Harry had radiated with each breath he took.

And Trowa had selfishly wanted to keep that feeling of belonging, of finally knowing what it felt like to truly live, all to himself. He'd loved knowing that he could make Harry laugh and that Harry could in turn make him laugh. There would be no laughter now though and the circus suddenly turned dark and desolate as the realization set in that he'd probably never see Harry again because he'd been so selfishly stupid.

Wandering aimlessly through the different attractions, Trowa soon found himself standing in front of Beauty's new cage. The python seemed to perk up the moment she caught sight of Trowa as she canted her head back and forth as if looking for some sign of Harry. Eventually, the enormous snake sank back down and sighed as if disappointed that the pint sized teen hadn't made an immediate appearance.

Unable to stand the pain of his failure any longer, Trowa spun on his heel and began heading back out of the circus; fully intending to make his way towards where he'd hidden Heavyarms after their most recent change of location. He'd just barely reached the entrance when Cathy grabbed his arm and spun him around angrily.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"I'm going to go fetch my little brother and take him home."

"And just what do you plan on doing, storm the walls bare handed? Run in blindly and get yourself killed trying to be some kind of hero? Did you not see the fear in Harry's eyes when that man threatened your life!? Did you not hear him begging you not to be a stupid hero and get yourself killed!?"

"Stupid hero…?" Trowa repeated as he stared at Cathy for a full minute before realization struck him. "One of the best… No, not hero… he said Heero! My little brother is brilliant… leave it to that sneaky little pint-sized teenager to drop a clue without being obvious about it." Trowa suddenly hugged Cathy before he pulled his arm away from the now confused young woman as he took off once more in the direction of his Gundam.

"Now where the hell are you going, Trowa?"

"To call on Hee-man, Wuff-man, Kumquat, and an annoying shinigami to help me get our favorite little brother back," Trowa called back over his shoulder before he took off running, leaving an annoyed and confused Cathy to throw her arms up in exasperation as he quickly disappeared from view; seemingly unaware of the shadow he'd picked up the moment he left the circus grounds.

* * *

When Harry finally came back to his senses sometime later, he found himself laying in the middle of a cold, metal and canvas cot in a damp stone room; his hands still tightly secured behind his back and still naked. Shaking his head to clear away the last of the empty numbness that had filled him, Harry twisted around and sat up as he glanced around his prison cell.

"Nice ambiance," Harry murmured hoarsely in feigned appreciation. "Although I think it needs a few more rusted chains, a rotting corpse or two, a bit of stale vomit, and some fresh blood splashed about the wall to really give it that homey dungeon feel. Oh, and they forgot the unwashed, foul mouthed prison guard looming out of the shadows in a show of intimidation; still for amateurs they at least got the damp and dank correct. Too bad I can't give Filch a call and schedule them a few free lessons. Probably for the best… they would never be able to handle the cranky bastard and I really don't want to see him or his demonic cat."

Sighing, Harry shook his head and pulled his hands under his body so he could pull his legs through his arms and his gave a soft hiss when it made his left shoulder ache from where Une had wrenched it in its socket. After allowing his shoulder muscles a moment to adjust, he reached up to his face and grinned with he found they had left him his glasses (the weak sticking charm he'd applied to them having prevented them from getting lost during his two escape attempts – and during his many performances). Pulling off the frames, he placed the right arm in his mouth and gave a gentle tug to remove the plastic ear guard from the one side and then proceeded to use the thin metal of the frame to pick the lock on the handcuffs.

While he worked, he silently thanked Duo for showing him how to turn virtually anything into a lock pick. When he had one hand free, he clipped the open cuff to the wrist with the other cuff so that they were both encircling his left wrist; a visible reminder that it was his own fault he was in this predicament. He spent another several minutes stretching out cramped muscles before repairing his glasses and putting them back on. He then took a moment to remove the bandages from his left hand so that he could study the cuts on his palm from the broken window; noting that they had been treated and stitched at some point.

His next task was to explore every inch of his cell; idly making tsking sounds and shaking his head as he noted the distinct lack of urine stains on the walls and spider webs in the corners while bemoaning the lack of edible rats. He did give them extra brownie points for the two different types of mold growing on the walls and floor. Harry knew he was probably being watched through at least one security camera and actually hoped to give those watching him the impression that he was completely nutters. The only thing that truly bothered him at that moment was his nakedness which had him feeling both exposed and vulnerable.

When he finished exploring the cell, he turned his attention to the only two pieces of furniture in the room; the bed and a chamber pot. Ignoring the chamber pot for the moment, Harry contemplated the bed before he allowed a demonic grin to spread across his face when he noted the deeper shadows beneath the rusted cot. Shuffling up to the bed, he dropped down to lie on his stomach on the floor before he wriggled his way beneath the bed.

Once he was pressed up against the wall where he was certain the cameras would never see what he was doing, Harry slipped his wand free of his hidden holster. He then cast a permanent sticking charm on the feet of the bed to prevent it from being moved or removed. Next, he cast a couple of low level protective wards on the frame to prevent anyone from seeing what was beneath the bed or from sneaking up on him.

Satisfied that he would be safe for the moment, Harry set about making the space beneath the bed a little more comfortable; expanding the space so he could sit up properly, adding cushioning and warming charms to the floor, and conjuring a couple of globes of soft light so he could see clearly. Another series of spells vanished the stitches in his hand so he could properly treat the cuts before they became infected. He then used his wand to undo the disillusionment charm that hid his leather necklace of shrunken trunks as he pulled it over his head and set it on the floor so he could expand the ones holding his food and supplies.

He dove into his supply trunk first where he used the rather simple bathroom it contained to wash himself up with rune generated warm water before dressing in a long sleeved shirt and pants. Next he spent several minutes disinfecting his hand and smearing it with healing ointment before he tightly re-bandaged it with a bit of gauze. He then took a moment to down a couple of potions to get rid of the lingering ache from his rather desperate failed escape attempt and to give him a bit of a boost so he didn't get sick after spending who knew how many hours sitting naked in the damp cell.

Before exiting that trunk, he warned the snakes that things had gone from bad to worse and promised them that he'd fetch them mice and rats when he could and let them out as soon as it was safe. Lastly, he grabbed the new laptop Trowa had purchased for him, a box of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start No-Heat Fireworks, and a pack of playing cards.

Harry set the things he gathered down on the floor of his hidden retreat before slipping down into his food trunk where he warmed up a can of soup and made himself a small sandwich. Once he finished eating, he made himself a mug of hot chocolate and grabbed a couple bottles of water for the fireworks. He climbed back up out of the trunk at that point, shrank the trunks back down to a more manageable size, returned the leather cord to his neck, and reapplied the spells to hide his trunks. Expecting someone to come and check on him soon, Harry tucked his wand back into the hidden holster, gathered up the pack of playing cards and his chocolate, and backed out from under the bed (leaving the others things for later).

He whistled a happy little tune as he imagined the confused expressions on his watchers faces when they saw him emerge fully clothed from beneath the bed when they assumed that he had nothing on him and nothing in the cell before he'd snuck under the bed. He continued to hum as he sipped at his hot chocolate before opening the pack of playing cards so he could shuffle the deck. As he sat there in the dank dungeon, Harry wondered if his godfather would be proud of him for pranking the guards that watched him before he grew sad as thinking of Sirius reminded him that he was once again all alone.

Shoving the ache in his heart to the back of his mind, Harry dealt out a game of solitaire and absently played through the hand as he sipped his chocolate; savoring the thick rich taste of Honeydukes' best chocolate and enjoying the warmth that spread through his body with each sip. He'd just started his third game when he heard the lock being turned and Harry did his best to keep calm and pretend not to hear the hinges of the door squeal loudly as it was opened just wide enough to admit one of his jailers. The door slammed shut again a heartbeat later and he heard footsteps crossing the stone floor to stop just beside him.

"Who gave you those clothes and the cards?"

"My godfather and my brother," Harry replied politely as he studiously continued flipping and moving the cards. "I carry them with me everywhere I go and I figured since you people ruined and stole my stage costume I might as well make use of my godfather's final gift. And I was bored because there are no rats to play with in here."

"Do not lie to me; you had nothing on but your glasses and your handcuffs when you were thrown in here two days ago."

"Two days?" Harry repeated in a pained voice. "Huh… imagine that; no wonder I was feeling hungry enough to eat a full can of soup by myself."

"Where did you get those clothes?"

"What clothes?"

"The clothes you are wearing!"

"Wow, you must really be a few pies short of a holiday. You just told me that I was put in here with nothing and if I had nothing on me when I came in, how could I possibly be wearing something now?" Harry sincerely inquired as he finally peered up at the guard standing right in front of him for the first time since the man had entered the cell.

Harry expected the blow and allowed his head to turn with the slap in order to reduce the force of the blow but it still stung through the mild pain relieving potion he'd taken earlier. He blinked a couple of times, straightened up his glasses, and prodded at his cheek where he suspected a rather large bruise would soon be forming before glancing up at the man hovering over him once more.

"You should ask that horrendous hag of a harpy, Une, for a few lessons; she hits much harder."

The second blow stung a bit more than the first but Harry felt satisfaction in the knowledge that he could goad the man into lashing out. It meant that he could drive the man to do something stupid. Harry smirked at the man and picked up his mug in order to take a drink only for the guard to grab it from him and fling it across the cell where it exploded against the wall.

"Oy, now that was just plan bad manners," Harry exclaimed indignantly. "That was damn expensive chocolate you just wasted, not to mention that was my favorite mug too. Have you no sense of decency!?"

The guard reached out and grabbed Harry's shirt and slammed him into the wall beside the bed as he got right up in Harry's face and growled, "I asked you a question you snot-nosed little brat and when I ask you a question you will answer me or I'm going to start breaking your fingers one at a time."

"I did answer you; not my fault you didn't like hearing the truth you insipid, in-bred idiot," Harry snarked back irritably as he lashed out with his foot and clipped the guard in the crotch with his toes.

The guard jerked and let out a pained grunt even as he wrapped his fingers around Harry throat and began squeezing only to stop and let go with one hand when the door opened up and the man half whirled around to see who was entering. Harry wiggled a bit to see if he could free himself but that only brought the guard's attention back to him and renewed pressure on his throat as the man once more tightened his grip.

"That is enough, captain."

Harry groaned out loud and practically growled as he recognized Zechs' voice. He should have known the man would show up sooner or later; Treize had given Harry to the man after all. The guard holding Harry snarled and slammed Harry back into the wall once more before dropping Harry back onto the bed.

"You will never again enter this cell without my explicit permission, is that understood captain?"

"Yes, sir, Lieutenant Zechs."

"Good; now get the hell out of here."

Harry reached up to massage his bruised throat as he warily watched Zechs while the guard vacated the cell. He tensed when the man stepped closer and studied Harry from beneath that detestable mask and Harry clenched his teeth and slipped sideways to maintain the distance between them. He could almost tolerate the guard trying to kill him but he'd be damned if he'd let the masked man touch him again.

"You should not have provoked him," Zechs admonished with a frown.

"Better a quick death than anything you or that man that holds your leash have planned for me," Harry spat back as he braced himself to dodge should the man make a grab for him.

"You know you don't have to stay in this place," Zechs pointed out as he seemingly studied the small, damp cell (specifically noting the broken mug and spilt chocolate) before turning back to study Harry once more. "It can't be all that comfortable and solitude weighs heavy on one's soul I have heard. All you have to do is agree to cooperate with Treize and you could be treated as a pampered guest."

Harry began to laugh softly at first, his voice slowly growing louder the longer he laughed. It was not a pretty laugh and there was no humor to be found in the sound as it bounced endlessly off of the stone walls of the dank cell. It was the sound of pure madness that was fueled by the dark memories of Harry's past coupled with the two long years he'd lived alone on the beach. Zechs retreated from the cell five minutes later (when Harry showed no signs of stopping) without saying anything further even as Harry's voice grew loud enough to echo throughout the entire dungeon.

Harry continued to laugh long after Zechs had left and more than one of the guards on watch that night shifted uneasily as the sound continuously drifted up from the depths of the dungeons. Harry didn't stop laughing until his voice finally gave out several hours later and even then his shoulders shook endlessly as he sat on the edge of his bed.

When Harry finally calmed down an indeterminate amount of time later, he sighed softly and pushed himself up from his bed to shuffle across the room in order to sweep up the shards of the mug that the guard had destroyed. Once he thought he had them all in one place, Harry glanced around the cell for a moment before he hunched over the cup and muttered a soft '_Reparo_' as he discreetly palmed his wand for a moment in order to draw on his magic. He smiled briefly as he watched the broken cup restore itself.

Sighing a second time, Harry stared at the slightly raised silhouette of a magnificent twelve-point stag etched into the mug and smiled wistfully as he thought of his father and godfather. A split second later he vanished the spilt chocolate (to further mess with the heads of those watching him) before returning his wand back to his holster. The pint-sized wizard then tucked the cup into the crook of his elbow and retreated to the bed where he promptly vanished into the shadows beneath it.

* * *

It had been over two months now since Harry had been forcefully taken into custody by Treize and he was still sitting in the same dank cell. Zechs visited him at least twice a day during the first couple of weeks and then only once a day after that to try to talk him into cooperating in exchange for being moved out of the dungeon. Harry's response to the man's continued efforts remained virtually unchanged from his first, though the presentation varied from day to day. He'd also driven at least half a dozen guards crazy (or ill) with the little tricks he'd play on them when he wasn't hacking into the castle's network trying to figure out what exactly it was that OZ wanted from him.

He knew he could have easily slipped out of the dungeon on his own but he would need outside help if he was to escape from the castle entirely because he didn't have his broom with him to help him get away and he had no idea where he could go to avoid being recaptured once he did escape. He didn't even have Sirius's motorcycle because he and Duo hadn't finished repairing the damage the bike had taken during that ill-fated raid on his beach-side cave (not that he knew how to drive it anyway). He would have made himself a portkey if he knew of a safe place he could portkey to within the five hundred mile limit of the transport spell. There was also the fact that he really didn't want to have to openly use his magic in front of Zechs or Treize (or any of the guards, really) because he feared the consequences of such an action.

Sighing in frustration, Harry picked up the special deck of cards he'd designed and created out of several bars of the silver he had pulled from his money trunk over the course of his first month of imprisonment. At first glance they appeared to be ordinary cards (the colored artwork done with a combination of spells and magical paints) with silver edges until you picked one up because despite being no thicker than a normal card; each one of the silver cards weighed exactly one quarter pound (or four ounces each), was fairly rigid, and had razor sharp edges.

The suits on the cards were also quite unlike any other deck of card as instead of clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds; they had full moons, crescent moons, suns, and stars with one of a kind images for the face cards. Sirius, Remus, his father, and Heero were the kings. Cathy, Hermione, his mother, and Relena Darlian were the queens. And Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei were all jacks. Harry himself was on both jokers; one image of him dressed in his Quidditch robes and the other of him dressed in his stage costume. The five pilots all had faint outlines of their Gundams in the background, the three Marauders had their animal forms, and the four ladies all had different flowers.

The design on the back of the cards had a detailed etching of an adder circling around the edge of the entire card and biting its own tail, a white lily filled the center of the card with the silhouette of the head of a stag facing forward drawn over the heart of the flower, and in the bottom two corners seated on their haunches facing each other were a dog and a wolf howling. Hidden within the designs on both sides of each card, were delicately drawn runic blood wards to prevent them from lost or stolen. There were also dozens of protective spells woven into each card to keep the cards from being physically damaged, to make them self-cleaning, and to have ever-sharp edges.

After shuffling the cards for a couple of minutes, Harry began casually juggling them much as he juggled his knives, the deadly edges of the cards flashing in the dim light as they cut through the air far easier than a normal card would. The bloodstained bandages wrapped around his fingers and hands hinted that he'd had more than a few problems learning how to properly juggle (and shuffle) the new weapons. Harry had just added playing card number eighteen to the number of cards slicing through the air above him when he heard the lock on his cell being turned yet again.

Pouting over the unwanted interruption, Harry set about plucking the cards from the air as quickly as he could so that he wouldn't be tempted to test their effectiveness on Zechs until he felt more comfortable handling the deadly cards. He giggled insanely as the thought that his special deck of cards could give new meaning to the phrase cutthroat when it came to card games passed through his mind. By the time the door pulled open, Harry was shuffling the cards again and preparing to deal out a game of war so that he could play against himself.

When he heard more than one set of footsteps enter the room, Harry paused in mid-shuffle and glanced up slowly to find Lady Une, the guard that had tried to strangle him, and two unfamiliar guards stepping into the room. He couldn't help but notice one of the unfamiliar guards had recently lost half of his left arm; the blackened stump and angry red streaks running up the arm letting him know that the man had been tagged by Belladonna the night he'd been captured and Harry let a wide grin slide onto his face over that fact.

Knowing that their presence couldn't possibly mean anything good, Harry tucked his cards back into order and slipped them into one of the hidden pockets he'd created in his sleeve to prevent the cards from being taken from him (the pocket to which the cards would return to on their own the moment he activated the retrieval rune he'd woven into the hidden pocket with blood soaked thread that was linked to the runes on the cards). The smug, predatory smile on Une's face and the satisfied smirk on the face of the guard he recognized made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up on end.

"Zechs is unable to visit you tonight so Treize asked me to come in his place," Lady Une announced as she stopped just a few feet away from where Harry sat while the three guards spread out to either side of her. "After being locked in this cell for two months with no visitors aside from Zechs, I thought you might be getting a little… lonely… so I brought a few friends of mine who would just love to _play_ with you for a while."

Harry sucked in a sharp breath as the image of greasy hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin flashed before his eyes while a silky voiced whispered in his ear that it was time for them to _play_ a little game. Lady Une's eyes lit up triumphantly as she easily recognized the fear that flashed through Harry's eyes in that split second.

"You see… I've been studying your behavior these past two months and going over the video footage of your two escape attempts and I've finally figured out how to break you," Lady Une practically purred while the three guards leered at Harry. "I know exactly how to make that little heart of yours flutter in true fear. I'm not completely heartless though, I will give you one last chance to willingly cooperate. But first, I promised these boys they could give you a little… sample of what you can expect to experience if you stubbornly continue to refuse to work with us. Try not to fight them too much, little boy; you'll only draw the lesson out needlessly."

Lady Une turned to leave as the three guards advanced on Harry and he froze for nearly a full minute as the past overlapped the present. And then hands were grabbing him, lifting him off his bed, pulling at his clothes, and pawing at him. A hand slid up beneath his shirt, another hand soon slipped down the front of his pants, and he felt teeth scraping against the skin of his neck as the guard standing behind him placed his mouth on Harry's neck and something inside of Harry rebelled at the violation.

Arching his head back, he let out a scream that was filled with both fury and fear. A heartbeat later, his magic lashed out against those that were grabbing and groping him as they sought to remove his clothes while continuing to fondle him at the same time (a reaction that no muggle and very few wizards could have prevented or protected themselves against – Snape avoiding the same fate due to magical suppression wards Harry had unknowingly been wearing at the time). Heat exploded in the small dungeon as three agonized screams rose to join Harry's. At the same time a concussive blast of magic shot through the entire castle destroying part of the dungeon and plunging the large estate into darkness beneath the cold light of the stars.

Ash floated down around Harry as the screams of the three guards ended rather abruptly. His own voice cut off a second later as he dropped to his knees and panted raggedly, tears blinding his eyes as they poured down his face. He heard Lady Une's voice ring out from somewhere near where the door used to sit and Harry dragged his arm across his face to clear his vision before he scrambled towards his hideaway beneath the prison cot that was pressed up against the only undamaged wall in the room (thanks in part to Harry's spell work).

He quickly gathered all of his things, dumped them haphazardly into the supply trunk, and hissed out a soft order for the snakes to quickly exit. While the adders, vipers, and asps were pouring out over the lip of the trunk, Harry was rocking back and forth on his knees with his arms wrapped tightly around his stomach as he tried not to think about what had just nearly happened as he urged the snakes to hurry. The moment the last snake dropped down over the lip of the trunk, he slammed the lid shut, shrank the trunk, and pulled the cord back over his neck.

'_I have to try and escape now and it is safer for you not to be with me if I am caught again. Get out of the house if you can and bite anyone who tries to stop you,_' Harry ordered in parseltongue as he rolled out from under the bed, dropped the protective wards and spells on his secret hideaway, and hit the wall beside the bed with a blasting curse. '_If at all possible, I will return to the forest one day to collect those of you who wished to stay with me._'

"Drop your weapon!" Lady Une ordered from somewhere behind Harry even as she fired several shots from the gun she carried.

"I am the weapon, you grotesque and gormless gorgon," Harry spat as he lifted his wand and cast an overpowered disarming spell in the direction of the woman's voice as several bullets rammed into him.

The spell slammed into the woman at the same instant and threw her against the damaged wall with a loud crack as it ripped the gun from her hands. Pain blossomed across Harry's body even as hate, disgust, rage, and a desperate wish to be free boiled up inside of him as he recalled what that woman had been about to allow those men to do to him and inside of Harry his magic shifted in response. Harry screamed again in agony, his voice sounding distinctly animalistic this time as glistening black and green wings covered with feather-like scales ripped free of his back and tore through his shirt.

Blood dripped from the newly formed wings for a heartbeat before they suddenly burst into flames the color of freshly spilled blood and tarnished gold that washed across the full expanse of both wings in an instant. Harry screamed yet again and dropped to his knees as his magic continued searing its way through his body, twisting and tearing at every cell in his body, as it altered him for a second time; making his new wings permanent and redesigning his body for flight.

When it was over and the flames had died away, Harry coughed up blood and climbed weakly up onto his feet. His body felt frail and the unfamiliar weight of his new wings unsettled and unbalanced him. The sound of loud voices echoing through what remained of the corridor outside of his cell sent Harry stumbling through the hole he'd made in the wall earlier; desperate to escape from the memory of what had happened, what had nearly happened, and the woman who intended to break him.

His wand flashed out time and time again as he simply blasted his way through each and every obstacle that presented itself (living or not). Newly instilled instincts told him he needed to go up and so Harry hunted out the stairs and climbed higher, hurling anyone that tried to stop him out of his way with high powered banishing charms. He'd just reached the roof when he recalled Treize and the others stealing the gifts that Trowa and Heero had given him and he hissed angrily at the thought of being forced to leave them behind.

"_Accio knives! Accio guns!_" Harry bellowed as he pictured his throwing knives and his two pistols in his mind.

He heard them whistling through the air several long minutes later and Harry turned to face the direction from which they were coming. His hands darted out as he plucked the fifteen knives from the air (his final knife still rattling around in Heero's Gundam) and shoved them haphazardly into the pockets of his pants before snagging the pistols as they arrived shortly after the last of the knives. Harry then ran across the battlements that made up the roof of the once great castle as he pushed his aching body as fast as it could go towards the rapidly approaching edge; firing several blasting curses over his shoulder without any hesitation as he heard a flood of soldiers pour onto the roof in his wake.

When he reached the edge of the roof, Harry vaulted up and over the top wall without missing a beat. He felt a rush of air whip passed his face until his wings snapped open ten seconds later and caught on the air that was rushing by him. He easily soared across the sky thanks to the wings for the first few minutes, the ground rushing by below him, until gravity began reasserting itself on Harry's body. Afraid of crashing into the ground below, Harry desperately tried to use his new wings to keep himself aloft. He had no idea what he was doing though as his fear overrode any instincts that had come with the appendages; the wings seemingly unwilling to work properly.

The more Harry struggled to remain aloft the faster he seemed to lose altitude and he was just descending into a full blown panic attach when a large pair of mechanical hands curled around him and gathered him close. Hauntingly familiar warmth washed over and through Harry as he wrapped his arms around the nearest digit to steady himself as his aching wings sagged limply at his side. Taking a shaky breath, he glanced towards the mobile suit's head where he knew most of the optic scanners sat and breathed a single word before passing out from the pain and blood loss.

"_Heero_…"

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**AN:** _Alright, where to start… First off, __this chapter was the main reason why this story was rated as mature (in addition to the potty mouths that Harry and the pilots let loose with every now and then). So this is the worst it's going to get as far as content though there are a couple of limes hinted at way later in the story._

_Moving on, Harry's attitude at the start of the chapter; he gets right pissy when you threaten those he claims as his family and he tends to get a little unreasonable. I tried not to make him too powerful again but at the same time I didn't want him to be timid, weak, and accepting. If you want to complain about Treize seemingly letting Trowa and Catherine go too easily, you might have missed my not-so-subtle hints that he was hoping to use Trowa to pick up a Gundam. His zoning at the end of his second escape attempt was meant to be a combination of shock the snakes getting killed and a mild concussion from his head hitting the window. _

_Next up, we now know why Trowa didn't contact the others. Out of all five of the pilots, I see Trowa's past as the harshest; I mean the poor guy doesn't even **know** his real name at this point. He was raised by mercenaries that called him No Name and it's a toss up whether Nanashi (no name in Japanese) or being called freak/boy is worse and that gives Trowa and Harry common ground because they were both denied a true name for a time. I see my Trowa as being desperate and selfish enough to hold onto the small piece of normalcy for as long as humanly possible; even against his better judgment. He is just fifteen years old after all. _

_That brings us to the time frame that Harry is a captive. Two months may seem like a really long time but it really isn't and while it isn't shown in this chapter, the pilots are pretty much scattered about the globe and trying to get back to the Estate (bar Quatre and Heero) without being caught while the Alliance and Oz are still going at it. It takes time to discreetly move the Gundams (except Duo's I suppose but I can see our shinigami stopping to help people out on the way because that is just who he is). So there's traveling, waiting, and planning being done during those two months even if you can't see it here.  
_

_Harry's reasons for not escaping on his own were given in the chapter; with limits again being applied to his magic (his Wing portkey having been made within Saudi Arabia where the pilots waylaid the transports on their way out of Africa towards Siberia). With Trowa retreating to Europe and the circus because it is far away from where the ambush took place; his goal ultimately to protect Harry._

_And then we have the entire scene with Une and the guards and what happened Harry's magic; the former being the catalyst for the latter. That part was the bit I'd been fighting with myself about; tormenting Harry and then giving him wings. I could have had Oz physically torture him but I don't think it would have had the same effect as Une allowing the guards to **play** with Harry. There was also the fact that I'd already gone that route with Heero at the beginning and I don't see it having quite the same impact on Harry now as the Harry then; if that makes sense. I can say that I will not put Harry in that position again though there will be a reference or two to the scene in this chapter later in the story and to Snape another time or two. _

_Finally, Harry's wings; boy were those a pain. I hemmed and hawed over those for months and what I'm going to say now is a bit of a spoiler but I think it necessary to make this clear; this story is **not** a creature!Harry story. Harry will **not** become a basilisk/phoenix/human hybrid type deal but there is a reason for the wings being there. The hows and whys of the wings will be partially addressed in the story in the next chapter so I won't say anything more here about them for now._

_I think that pretty much covers everything I needed to say about the chapter. The only other thing I need to do is apologize to everyone who reviewed for not responding as promised yesterday; my youngest picked up yet another bug from school and she's been feeling icky yesterday and today and I've been trying to take care of her and not get sick myself. This chapter, aside from being the longest chapter yet, is my formal apology for seemingly ignoring everyone (unintentional as it was) and I'll answer what I can when I can once she's feeling better and once the holiday messes have been cleaned up. ~ Jenn_


	21. Coping in the Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter makes references to the events that happened in the previous chapter; specifically to the brief scene where Harry was molested by the guards (as usual there are no details)._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 20: Coping in the Aftermath

Harry slowly became conscious once more to the sensation of fingers running through his hair. He muttered an unintelligible complaint beneath his breath as he swatted at the hand disturbing him before he snuggled deeper into his pillow. He'd barely begun drifting back off to sleep when the insistent fingers returned and Harry tried to tug the covers up and over his head only to snag them on his forgotten left wing, painfully bringing him to full awareness as the painful twisting of the wing joint shot through his back and he cried out reflexively as he tried to move away from the pain.

"Easy, kiddo, hold still a moment and I'll untangle ya."

Harry screwed his eyes shut and whimpered as he felt hands grabbing at his wings and shoulders; the sensation of touch immediately bringing to mind the memory of the guard's hands pawing at him through his clothes. He instinctively twisted away from the hands further tangling both of his wings now as he slapped at the hands that kept reaching for him. His stomach churned and his throat burned as he began panicking, no longer caring that he was hurting himself with each wrenching turn he made in his efforts to escape the hands and the memories they invoked.

"_Stop touching me!_" Harry eventually yelled out as the sheet entangling him burst into flames as his wings ignited in response to his fear and anger as his eyes finally snapped open. Free at last, he scrambled up onto his feet and jumped backwards and to the left as his wings curled protectively around him as pain shot through his body where the bullets had hit him during the night of his escape; his eyes searching the immediate area in fearful confusion as he found himself in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. "Just… just stop… no more. Don't touch me any more."

"Alright, kiddo, no one is gonna touch ya. I didn't know I was botherin' ya; I just tryin' ta help ya get free of da sheet."

Harry's eyes finally landed on the speaker and his breath hitched in shock as he immediately recognized the teen's long hair and blues eyes. Hope and uncertainty warred within him as he leaned forward to study the teen intently even as he whispered a soft and tremulous, "Duo?"

"The one and only; in a nutshell, kiddo," Duo quipped back with a smile as he spread his arms wide and glanced down at himself as if to ascertain he was indeed standing there.

"Duo!" Harry half choked and half crowed as he launched himself across the distance and wrapped his arms around Duo without any hesitation. "I was so afraid I'd never see any of you guys again."

"Ya can't get rid of us that easily," Duo murmured as he placed his hands on Harry's head, being careful not to touch him anywhere else least he trigger Harry's panic a second time. "We came a runnin' da moment we could once we knew ya needed us, kiddo."

"Trowa…! Trowa is alright, isn't he? They didn't hurt him did they? He didn't try anything stupid did he?"

"Trowa is just fine, he's been worried sick about ya but otherwise he is just fine. He's da one that let us know ya were in trouble. We were in da middle of tryin' ta work out a plan ta get ya out only ya beat us ta da punch."

"I'd tried waiting for you guys to come find me but… they were going to… and she was going to let them… and I just couldn't…"

"Shh, shh, it's alright, kiddo; it's over now. You're safe and we won't let them take ya back without a fight."

"Merlin, Duo, I hated every fucking minute I was trapped inside that castle," Harry babbled agitatedly as he clung a little tighter to the long haired teen. Harry then glanced up to meet Duo's concerned blue gaze with haunted eyes (the wizard not even noticing he'd not needed to look up as high as he had previously) as he whispered, "It was horrible, Duo. I thought Zechs was the one I had to fear… that terrifyingly cold, frozen mask hiding his face… it was like seeing the Death Eaters in the graveyard that night all over again. I never thought it would be that horrible woman who would… she… she said she wanted to break me."

"It's over now."

"No… as long as they live it will never be over because they will never stop hunting for me for whatever reason it is that they want me and they won't hesitate to hurt those who try to hide or protect me. They had all kinds of pictures of me; they've been stalking me for who knows how long."

"We can worry about da big picture another time; right now we're far more concerned with makin' certain that you're gonna be alright."

"I'm fine…"

"I'm sure ya will be in time but for now don't be afraid ta lean on us when ya need ta; ya don't have ta deal with it all alone."

Harry sighed and let the tension drain from him as he reluctantly pulled back so he could sit down before his legs gave way. He yelped and jumped right back up onto his feet though when he accidentally sat on his wings. Now that he was no longer so focused on what had nearly happened or those that had held him captive, he finally acknowledged what he had been trying to ignore; his new appendages.

Reaching out with trembling hands he gathered the edge of his left wing in his fingers as he carefully stretched it out and forward so he could get a proper look at the wing while ignoring the slight pain the new position of the wing invoked. In complete contrast to the metallic sheen of the new appendage, the wings were warm to the touch and rather soft like downy feathers though they were without a doubt made from thick scales and not feathers. Furrowing his brow, Harry continued to run his fingers down the edge of the wing as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea that he had wings.

"Is there something wrong, kiddo?"

"Please tell me I'm just imagining them. Tell me they aren't real and everything was nothing more than a dark and terrible nightmare," Harry half begged and half demanded, his voice rough with emotion and borderline panic as he began digging his fingers into the wing; barely registering the additional pain he was causing himself.

"I wish I could, kiddo," Duo murmured softly as he reached out and gently pried Harry's fingers off the wing to prevent him from drawing blood before he took Harry's hands in his. "Do ya remember how ya got them?"

"I was so angry… so scared… and in so much pain… I'd never before felt such hate for another person before. They came from inside of me, ripping and tearing as they forced their way out. My magic was completely out of control, raging like wildfire through my body; twisting and burning and I could feel myself changing. Why…? Why would my magic do this to me?"

"I wish I could give ya an answer, kiddo, but da only thing I know about your magic is what I've learned from ya. They aren't causin' ya any physical pain right now, are they?"

"Not exactly…" Harry started to reply only to cut off and glance up sharply as the sound of dry leaves crunching rhythmically signaled the approach of someone else.

Jerking his hands out of Duo's grasp, Harry stumbled backwards and fell into a defensive crouch as his fear spiked; his wings automatically spreading out to either side of him (poised as if for flight) as he turned to face the direction from which the sound was coming. He went completely still and hardly dared to breathe as first Heero and then Trowa walked out from behind a clump of trees. Harry slowly straightened up as his wings trembled and shifted before retracting so that they hung tensely behind him; ready to snap out again the instant he felt threatened.

The memory of Trowa tied helplessly to a chair as a soldier purposefully broke his finger followed by a group of soldiers herding the pilot and Cathy out of the castle flashed through Harry's mind and Harry sucked in a sharp breath as he stared at the teen for several minutes before he bounded across the distance that separated them. He crashed into the taller teen hard enough that Trowa staggered backwards several steps before regaining his balance. A heartbeat later, Harry's arms snaked their way around Trowa's waist and he clung to Trowa much as he had clung to Duo just a short while earlier. He shook with suppressed emotions as he felt Trowa hug him in return and he buried his face against Trowa's chest as he took several shuddering breaths.

"I thought I lost you for good," Trowa murmured softly.

"I panicked that first night, when they drugged us and I saw them dragging you and Cathy away. I was so angry and so scared that I was blindly lashing out left and right and couldn't think straight because the only thought running through my mind was that I had to reach you. Then the next day, I tried not to let them get to me but something inside of me just snapped when Treize threatened you two. I didn't even stop to think about what I had just committed to doing before I threw that knife and, even if I had known what I was doing, I don't think it would have stopped me from killing that man."

"After they threw you off the property things went from bad to worse. Treize actually tried treating me like a recalcitrant child. He even had the balls to threaten to send me to bed with no supper because I couldn't bring myself to eat the food they'd dumped in front of me so soon after I killed that man; he acted as if he believed I would think that missing a few meals would be the end of the world. I tried to kill Treize but I missed when he dove out of the way. He tried to get me to cooperate by promising me I'd be a pampered guest but I told him I'd prefer the dungeons."

"The bastard then gave me to Zechs as if I was some sort of consolation prize or mindless pet. I panicked again and shot a bunch of the soldiers when I was trying to escape. I don't know if I killed any of them or not but they were all bunched up together because they'd just walked into the room and I was trying to escape so I fired more than half the clip into their midst to scatter them. And I didn't care. I never once cared that one or more of them might die as I fired shot after shot at them."

"You only did what you thought you had to do to protect yourself. I never should have allowed you anywhere near that damned castle. We should have just left the moment I learned who we were supposed to perform for and we could have been miles away before they even knew we were gone."

"They would have just hurt Cathy when they found us gone because they'd have thought she would know where we were going… she's… she's alright isn't she? They didn't catch her again and hurt her, did they?"

"She's just fine. She called me a couple of weeks after I set out to gather everyone to help get you back and I told her to get out of there before we went in to get you back because I didn't want them to get their hands on her again. Only to find out that she'd already quit the circus before she called me and was demanding to know where could meet me. She's here with us but she is understandably angry that we hid quite a few things from here. Well, mostly angry with me; she's been very worried about you."

"Thank, Merlin… I don't think I could have forgiven myself if either of you had been hurt because of me."

"What about you, Harry? Did they hurt you? Did they experiment on you? Is that how you got the wings?"

Harry shuddered unconsciously as his mind went back to his time with OZ his mind shying away from that final night as his wings snapped up and out before folding up and pressing close to his back. He then pulled back just enough to meet Trowa's concerned gaze with his own troubled eyes; a small part of his mind absently registering the fact that he didn't need to look up quite so far to meet the taller boy's gaze this time (whereas Duo, as the shortest pilot, had always been the closest in height to Harry making the difference less noticeable in his former panic).

"They didn't do anything to me in the beginning; well, not counting them poisoning me with an overdose of tranquilizers when the first shot they gave me didn't work. They mostly tried psychological warfare in order to get me to cooperate with them and they threw me about the room a bit the second time I tried to escape after I tried to kill Treize. Une wasn't exactly gentle taking me down or when she cuffed me again," Harry tentatively explained as he lifted his left arm and shook it, making the handcuffs still locked around his wrist rattle. "After they let you go, they hauled me down to the dungeons where I spent the rest of my time in a dank, dark cell and had fun tormenting and confusing the hell out of the guards while making escape plans in case you guys couldn't come get me."

"That's all that happened?" Heero asked speculatively, drawing Harry's attention to him for the first time since the wizard had seen Trowa.

"No… one of the guards slapped me around a bit and tried to strangle me after I got a bit mouthy with him but Zechs stopped him. Zechs would visit me regularly once I woke up and registered my surroundings. Each time he visited, he'd offer to move me out of the dungeons if I'd agree to work with them."

Harry shuddered again as he recalled the cold and emotionless man in the mask; his wings rustling in agitation. He also couldn't help but think that the masked man had been far kinder than the heartless woman had been. He began shivering in fear as thoughts of that woman crowded into his mind before he shook his head and shoved those memories away as he finished answering the question at the gentle prompting of his oath.

"No matter what I did or said, Zechs was always so coldly polite; he never got angry, never raised his voice, and never threatened to hit me no matter how many times I insulted him. He never even asked me any questions except to ask me if I was ready to cooperate. I have no idea what it was they wanted from me; only that they wanted me to work with them willingly and I couldn't bring myself to even think about giving them what they wanted. I hacked into their network several times and copied a bunch of stuff I found but I never found anything that would tell me what they wanted from me. I think I could have survived for months on end if things had continued on with just Zechs showing up periodically."

"That Une is one heartless bitch though… she's the one that took the Colonies hostage that day," Harry spat as a few small flames danced across his wings before disappearing. He then sent Heero a sharp glare as he added, "I still owe you a right hexing for that stunt you tried to pull," before returning to the original topic. "Treize set that woman on me after two months of Zechs trying to play Mr. Nice Guy. She… I don't know how she knew… I never said anything… but she knew and she was going to let them… they were going to…"

Harry's eyes darkened and dulled as the life bled out of them while his voice grew empty as he woodenly whispered, "I can still feel their hands grabbing and groping me as they tried to strip me."

Trowa's arms tightened around Harry as he fell silent, his words hanging in the air as a sharp breeze stirred the forest around them. Harry took a shaky breath as he leaned back into Trowa for comfort and closed his eyes as he added, "My magic lashed out at them and burned them alive just like it did to Quirrell in my first year. I can still hear them screaming as their bodies turned to ash while they still breathed. Une shot me not long after that and my magic spiraled completely out of my control. My magic is responsible for the wings somehow… it did something to me inside as well but I don't know what the magic changed or why it turned on me like it did."

"It'll be alright," Trowa murmured gently as he stroked Harry's hair. "We'll figure it out together. You're safe now and that is the important thing and we're not going to allow anyone else hurt you if we can help it."

"Just don't leave me alone; I don't want to be alone any more."

"We won't," Heero promised as he stepped closer and reached out to brush away the single tear sliding down Harry's cheek.

"Good… remind me to hex you later when I'm not so tired," Harry declared around a yawn as he cracked one eye open just long enough to send another half hearted glare at the blue-eyed teen.

They would end up camping in the forest for three weeks as the five pilots and one circus performer tried to help Harry come to terms with his brief imprisonment and the changes his magic had wrought on his body. Harry's emotions were constantly bouncing from one extreme to another as he alternately shoved everyone away and clung to them in turns. The other teens quickly learned to never touch Harry's wings under any circumstances and to never make physical contact when Harry wasn't aware of their intent and especially when he wasn't fully awake. His memories of what had nearly happened to him for the second time in his life far too new and raw and any unexpected touches caused him to lash out violently (much as he had when the pilots had first found him – only with far more accuracy and skill thanks to all that they taught him).

During the first week Harry had trouble sleeping, his dreams haunted by nightmares or his body wracked by pain because he'd continuously snag his wings either in his blankets while sleeping or beneath his feet when standing or sitting. The pain would have been even worse if not for the small handful potions that Harry had used to finish healing the multiple gunshot wounds he'd had from Une firing on him before he disarmed her (Trowa having tended the injuries and removed the bullets prior to him waking up several days after his desperate escape).

It wasn't until he stumbled across the hidden Gundams at the end of that first week that he finally managed to get some actual rest. He'd climbed up onto Heavyarms' foot (unable to fly up to the cockpit since his broom was still inside the Gundam and he still had no real control over his wings), sprawled across the bar that protected the ankle joint on his stomach, and promptly slept for eighteen hours straight. Since he hadn't told anyone where he was going, his pseudo brothers had panicked when they found him missing and spent close to seven hours trying to find him before they thought to check the Gundams.

The second discovery that helped Harry cope was that Cathy had confiscated both Beauty and the wild snakes (and their cages) from the circus after she'd learned that the ringmaster had known that Treize intended to take Harry after the performance and allowed him to do so because the leader of OZ had paid him a hefty bribe. He'd feared that something might have happened to the rather vulnerable creatures because of him (his memory of the deaths of Belladonna, Rusty, and the other three vipers still fairly fresh in his mind). The four pilots who'd not been at the circus were then treated to the sight of Harry being swarmed by close to a seventy wild snakes and a twenty-five foot python as Harry let them all out.

They didn't worry quite as much as Cathy had the first time she'd seen Harry work with the snakes but they did need a little time getting used to seeing so many snakes (more than a few of them venomous) swarming over the smaller teen. It was common place after that to see Harry walking around with a dozen or so snakes draped all over him (though never on his wings) and fifteen or twenty of them sprawled about the camp since Harry left the doors to both cages open knowing the snakes wouldn't hurt him or those with him.

Now that he was no longer sleep deprived and he no longer needed to worry about any of his friends getting hurt because he'd escaped from OZ's clutches, Harry slowly began regaining control of his emotions. He was also forced to accept that his wings weren't going to disappear after he got a good look at himself in the mirror the first time and performed a few diagnostic scans.

Along with the new appendages (that were nearly as tall as he was when folded against his back), he'd grown close to eight inches in height (which brought him roughly back to the height he'd been at the end of his fourth year), lost half his weight (his bones now thinner and hollow like a bird's), and his frame had shifted so that he was rather slender and petite because of those same changes (though he in no way appeared effeminate). Any appearance of fragility that his new form might have portrayed was lost the moment one looked beyond his delicate structure and saw the underlying strength in his wiry muscles that had gained slight definition because he'd lost what little body fat he'd been carrying. The pilots would later compare his new body structure to that of an eagle or a falcon; distinctly raptor-like – though he was still obviously human.

The only other changes that had occurred hadn't been discovered until Harry had canceled the charms that he had used to disguise his appearance (after being reminded about the changes when Trowa had asked him to undo his). His hair was easily changed back to black but it had gained deep reddish highlights that hadn't been there before and his left eye remained blue even if that blue was slightly darker than the color of the spell he'd first used to change the color. Both eye and hair resisted all attempts to change them back to his natural coloring (or any other color) now that the original spells had been canceled and, while annoying, those two changes hadn't been as startling as the rest. Cathy had embarrassed Harry after he'd finally seen the changes when she had called him hauntingly handsome (the pilots having asked her not to mention them to him until he had seen them for himself).

"So… you're a wizard, huh?" Cathy asked casually over supper on the evening after Harry had seen the changes his magic had wrought on his body.

"I was… don't know if I could rightly still be called one now," Harry replied as he ducked his head and fingered the edge of his wings. "In my old world I'd no longer be considered human and would most likely either be locked up and studied or driven out of society and shunned; that's if they even let me live."

"That is horrible! Why would they do something like that?"

"The magical society in my world was rife with prejudice and anyone or anything different was ridiculed, shunned, or destroyed," Harry replied with a shrug. "As far as that society was concerned, there were three kinds of people; purebloods, halfbloods, and muggleborns. If you didn't fall into one of those categories you weren't human. If you didn't have magic at all a good number of them considered you worse than animals. Werewolves, vampires, merfolk, veela, goblins, centaurs, and giants were all treated horribly and those of mixed heritage were treated even worse."

"My standing in that society was rather convoluted since I was considered something of a celebrity because of something that happened when I was still in diapers. The general public, as a whole, adored me and reviled me in turns at the drop of a hat; their mood dependent upon whether or not I was conforming to their expectations. I hated it and yet I clung to what the wizarding world represented from the day I learned I was a wizard on my eleventh birthday; an escape. Don't get me wrong, the magical world held many wonders but it was far from perfect and after four years of being subjected to fanatic adoration or outright hatred on top of all the near death experiences; it is hard to hold onto the wonder I felt when I first learned magic was real."

"Wait a minute… you just said you were eleven when you first learned you were a wizard and that you spent four years… I thought you were twelve? How could you have spent four years…?"

"Actually, I'm only about a month younger than you; I turned seventeen at the end of July."

"But… but you didn't look a day over eight when I first met you."

"That was a side effect of whatever magic my godfather used to send me here," Harry explained with a pout as he crossed his arms and glared at the campfire. "Although… it might have been my magic reacting negatively to being torn out of my world forcefully; I've not yet found any information that would explain what happened and as far as I know there is no one I could possibly ask in this world."

"Have you given any more thought as to why your magic changed you a second time and gave you wings? Or why it chose to give you wings in the first place?" Heero asked cautiously as he took a seat beside the pint-sized wizard.

"A bit… I think it had to do with what I was feeling at the time; magic is fueled by emotions and the stronger the emotion the stronger the reaction. A young wizard's magic will protect him when he feels threatened because he hasn't learned to fully control his magic; they call it accidental magic when that happens because it lashes out in an uncontrolled and unintentional outburst."

"A wizard usually stops having such outbursts once they start school at age eleven but for some reason I've never stopped having them and they've only gotten stronger since Padfoot removed the blocks that Dumbledore placed on my core to bind my magic. So, because I was so angry, frightened, and in pain that night and actively fueling my hate of that callous woman, what she was allowing to happen, and wishing I could escape, my magic reacted the moment I lost control of it shortly after I disarmed her."

"So, why wings? And such strange wings at that?" Duo inquired curiously as he openly stared at said wings as they lazily shifted each time Harry moved.

"You guys remember when you watched me fight the basilisk?" Harry asked in reply and all five pilots slowly nodded after a moment while Cathy looked a little lost. "When I was pierced by its fang I was injected with a large amount of venom and I was dying when the phoenix healed me with his tears. The phoenix tears didn't remove or destroy the venom though; all they did was neutralize it and prevent the venom from destroying my body further while at the same time healing the damage it had already caused."

"I had thought that all of the venom and tears would've passed out of my blood stream after a few months but I guess enough of them remained in my blood that my magic drew on their magic when I lost control. The wings have a similar shape to a phoenix's wings, they generate warmth like a phoenix, the feathers are more of a cross between feathers and scales, they're the same color as the basilisk's scales, and they are extremely sensitive to even the slightest touch (like a snake's scales)."

"Were you using your magic to do all of those tricks during the shows we performed?" Cathy asked into the silence that had fallen over the campfire after Harry finished explaining his theory.

"No… I didn't use any spells or active magic during the shows. Well… the ability to understand and speak to snakes is a magical talent that I have but it doesn't really give me control over the snakes, they still have the choice to listen to me or not. I appealed to their stomachs, healed them of any injuries or diseases I found, and removed any parasites they had in order to talk them into helping me. Most snakes I speak to stick around because they are curious about me because speakers are quite rare and according to the snakes, were considered a myth in this world. They also enjoy the attention since most snakes are rather vain."

"And the knife tricks?"

"I worked hard to learn those tricks. I've always had a knack with small flying objects and can pluck golf balls, marbles, rocks, or knives from the air because I can see or maybe sense them around me. That ability might be a magical talent but I still have to physically reach out to grab whatever it is. Anything metal is always easier to catch because the light reflects from it and draws my eye. Trowa first taught me how to throw knives about six or seven months ago and after the initial awkwardness of learning how to balance them properly to throw them, it was easy."

"Learning to juggle them, on the other hand, was an accident really and it was the only act of defiance on my part after my training started. I think I excelled at it so quickly in part because of the danger the blades represented because I'm so used to constantly fighting for my life and I always perform my best when I'm under the threat of death. Showing off in front of thousands only added to the thrill once I got over my stage fright because they appreciated me for something I actually did instead of something they only thought I did."

"What else can your magic do besides protect you when you are in danger?"

"It's easier if I show you," Harry replied as he set his mostly untouched supper down, pulled his wand from his hidden holster, climbed to his feet, and backed away from the campfire.

The first thing he did was to light the entire clearing with a dozen soft globes of light so that everyone could see. He then levitated all of the dead leaves that were on the ground around them and began transfiguring small groups of them into butterflies, filling the entire clearing with multicolored wings. Since the insects were smaller and less complex than the humming bird tea cup he'd transfigured for Wufei, they stayed much longer; fluttering and dancing through the air and crawling over all six teens sitting around the fire. He next used his magic to clean the dishes they'd eaten from (including disposing of his uneaten food) and set the silverware to dancing on top of the plates as he levitated the plates off the ground.

Harry had then turned to Heero and narrowed his eyes before flipping the teen upside down, hosing him off with his wand, and firing a series of low powered stinging and tickling hexes at him; making Heero cry out and laugh in turns as he dangled upside down. He kept it up until Heero apologized for attempting to self-destruct his Gundam and Harry set him back on the ground, dried him off, and finally hugged the teen for the first time since they'd been reunited. The rest of his spells fizzled out about that time and dead leaves rained down all around them as the dishes crashed to the ground and the light dimmed.

"That was… that was amazing… though it didn't look like much fun being hexed," Cathy breathed.

"I don't usually hex people unless they do something stupid or annoying," Harry mumbled against Heero's chest. "Or if they are attacking me but then I usually knock them out, push them away from me, or disarm them depending on how big of a threat they are and what I'm thinking at the time. I have killed with my magic and there are destructive spells I can use but I usually shy away from those types of spells even though they are far easier for me to perform than the other spells."

"Tell us more about the circus shows you performed in, Harry," Quatre encouraged to distract Harry from the depression he could feel growing inside the winged teen.

"They were fun," Harry burbled as he stepped away from Heero and his eyes lit up in excitement. "It all started because I was helping Beauty shed and I might have accidentally on purpose let her out of her cage and ended up catching a few knives that someone had thrown at her. Trowa and Cathy then put together our routine but I suggested using the snakes and having Cathy as part of the act. It was funny… I'd go out and pretend I couldn't juggle for a few minutes, Trowa and Cathy would then 'catch' be in the ring and Trowa would release the snakes from the crate seemingly on accident with a well aimed ball. He'd then throw several knives at me, as if he was trying to pick off the snakes, and I'd catch them. The crowd would panic the moment I started juggling the knives because they thought I couldn't juggle and all the while the snakes would be swarming all over me."

"After that I'd throw the knives at the target before letting the snakes carry me off into the crate. Cathy would then use Trowa as target practice while blaming him for corrupting me. I think my favorite part was hitting Trowa in the back of the head with the juggling balls and having him chase me off stage to the audience's laughter though," Harry rambled as he snickered and snuck a look at Trowa who was smiling again (the surprise of his fellow pilots). "It was easy to pretend Trowa actually was my brother and I imagined that brothers would pull crazy stunts like that together… I miss the circus if only because for a short while I felt like I'd finally found my family and all that was missing was the rest of you guys. I wish you guys had been able to see us."

"Ya could show us now… I'd like ta see what new tricks ya learned," Duo commented with a grin.

That was all it took to bring Harry back out of yet another downward spiral as he jumped back up and cast another spell to light up the clearing a second time as he pulled his knives out of the special pockets he'd slowly been adding to all of his clothes (along with cutting out the backs of several shirts to make an opening for his wings). He passed the blades to Trowa before conjuring a target to throw the knives at and set it up between two trees. He nodded at Trowa who threw the first three blades that Harry easily caught and tossed up into the air and soon caught them again in one hand while his other caught the next three blades Trowa had thrown.

Once he had all six blades in hand, he began juggling them in alternating patterns that changed with each new knife that was added in. He was only up to nine blades when everything went wrong. He'd just changed the throwing pattern he was using when his left wing got in the way and one of the falling knives sliced down the sensitive feather-like scales causing Harry to jerk sideways and cry out as the rest of the blades rained down on him the moment he lost his concentration.

Everyone froze in shock because they'd never seen Harry ever fumble the knives before and when it was over, Harry was kneeling on the ground trembling with two of the knives pinning his left hand to the ground. After they snapped out of their shock, all six teens that had been watching rushed forward to make certain he was alright but that only caused Harry to panic and do further damage to his hand as he fought to keep them from touching him.

"Guys, stop… you're frightening him!" Quatre ordered as he felt Harry's growing fear and caught sight of his terrified and pain glazed eyes. "We need to give him room and allow him to calm down; he's only hurting himself worse in his panic."

Harry panted as he sat with his head bowed, his right wing fully stretched out and curving upwards so that the flight 'feathers' were clearly defined and his left wing pulled tightly against his back as blood ran down the feathery scales to splash on the ground. His left hand was still pinned to the ground and bleeding heavily as his frantic movements had caused the sharp blades to cut further into the surrounding tissue. It took several minutes for him to get his breathing and his emotions back under control.

Reaching down with his right hand, Harry grabbed the first knife and pulled it out with a sharp yank eliciting a hissed curse as pain shot through him. He immediately flung the knife away from him with enough force that it buried itself up to the hilt in a nearby tree (his magic adding force to the throw). He removed the second blade a moment later and clutched it tightly in his hand as pain shot up through his hand and up arm once more. Harry stared down at the bloody knife in his hand as a hundred conflicting feelings rushed through him.

"Harry, whatever you're thinking about doing it isn't worth it," Quatre softly stated as he clutched at his heart and watched Harry with concern.

"Humans weren't meant to have wings," Harry hissed in a pained voice and he looked up with tormented eyes.

"Do you really think maiming yourself is going to solve anything?" Quatre gently demanded as he got the gist of what Harry was thinking about doing based upon his declaration and his emotions.

Harry turned away in shame as he let the knife tumble free from his hand as Quatre's question cut through him and made him realize just what he'd been contemplating. He reached up and covered his face with his hands, uncaring that he was smearing his face with his blood as he shook beneath the weight of his emotions. His mismatched family watched him with worried eyes as they waited for him to calm down so that they could approach him to take care of his injuries. All of them watching and waiting for him to relax his right wing as his wings had become a visible gauge of his emotions much like a bird's wing posture can be used to gauge its mood.

Even after he'd calmed down, it was a good hour before he allowed Trowa to clean and bandage the injured wing (though he'd allowed his hand to be treated without any hesitation which unfortunately involved vanishing a few bones) and Harry remained in a state of near panic the entire time; cringing and near whimpering each time Trowa touched his wing.

"Does it hurt that bad?" Trowa asked as he carefully cleaned out the long gash that had set everything off.

"It's not the pain that bothers me."

"Then what is it that has you so jumpy?"

"You're touching me… them… I don't like them being touched."

"Is it because the wings bother you?" Heero asked, hoping to distract Harry from what Trowa was doing.

"No, it's not that it's… I don't like how it feels… I'm not sure how to explain it but I guess you could say it's no different than having someone walk up and fondle your privates without so much as a by-your-leave."

"What?" more than one voice demanded as Trowa's hands immediately jerked away from Harry's wing as if he'd been burned while he stared at Harry's profile.

Harry shifted uncomfortably for a moment as it dawned on him that there was much he'd left out in his explanations of what exactly his magic was and where it came from (something he'd been afraid to speak of before he'd realized just how much the pilots had come to mean to him). After another minute of hesitation, Harry haltingly revealed what he'd learned about his wings when he'd cast his diagnostic spells earlier and the relationship between a person's magic and their soul (something he himself had only learned after he'd been thrown from his world by his godfather).

"The wings aren't just a physical trait I suddenly grew like an arm or a leg; they are intimately tied to my magic. I never told you guys before because I was afraid to trust you at the time but a person's magic is a part of their soul and not just an energy they can use. Under normal circumstances one's soul is untouchable except by other magic that directly affects the soul or a person's magic; such as the three Unforgivables, most of the darker mind control spells, or the spells used to bind one's magical core. My wings are a physical manifestation of my magic and when someone touches my wings he or she is intimately touching my soul at the same time."

"Does that mean you injured your soul when you cut your wing?" Wufei asked in concern as the six teens digested the information Harry had just given them.

"Not exactly… the pain was more than physical but it didn't actually cause damage to my soul because the soul is still somewhat intangible; much like magic is intangible in its purest form."

"What happened earlier?" Trowa asked as he hesitantly finished cleaning the long gash; the teen now as uncomfortable touching Harry's wings as Harry was to have them touched due to the connotations of their connection to his soul and the confession Harry had made that compared having his wings touched was much like being molested. "I've never seen you lose track of the knives like that before."

"My wing got in the way; I'm still not used to them and I actually have very little control over them."

"I bet you'll be flyin' with them in next ta no time," Duo interjected in an effort to cheer the wizard up. "Bet it'll be ten times better than flyin' on your broom once ya do get used ta them."

"Maybe… but right now they just get in the way of everything."

"Then we just need to work on helping you learn how to consciously control them," Wufei stated matter-of-factly. "It is important that you know how to not only use them but how to best protect them as well; especially given how you said having them touched makes you feel."

Harry pouted as he shivered a bit over that declaration and his wings pulled in tight against his body, his left one sticking out a bit awkwardly due to Trowa still working on treating the injury.

"It won't be all that bad," Wufei chided with a half grin at Harry's response. "No different than when I first began teaching you how to do your katas. You have been practicing your katas, haven't you?"

"I was… but obviously not since I pulled a Padfoot."

"Pulled a Padfoot?" Cathy asked curiously. "What is a Padfoot and what does it mean to pull one?"

"Padfoot was my godfather's nickname," Harry explained as a small smile flashed across his face. "My dad was Prongs and Remus was Moony. There was another person in their group but I don't like to speak of him because he turned out to be a traitorous scumbag and one of the reasons my parents are dead. They each earned their nicknames because of the animals they could change themselves into; my dad was a stag, Sirius (my godfather) was a large dog, and Remus… well Remus was a kind of wolf and the reason the others learned how to become animagi in the first place."

"They could turn themselves into animals? Does that mean were you referring to your wings when you said you pulled a Padfoot?"

"Yes, there's a branch of magic that allows some wizards to turn into an animal. And no, I wasn't actually talking about my wings; I was talking about my escape. You see, my godfather was accused of betraying my parents and murdering thirteen people. The person actually responsible for selling out my parents and murdering those people framed Sirius before faking his death and my godfather was thrown into prison; no questions asked. He wasn't actually given a proper trial as he'd been proclaimed guilty by the same man that had bound my core."

"Sirius sat in prison for twelve years until he learned that the traitor was hiding as the pet of a family at the school I was attending. My godfather escaped from what was believed to be an inescapable prison in order to kill the one wizard he was supposed to have murdered twelve years earlier; the man who framed him and betrayed my parents. I pulled a Padfoot because I broke myself out of prison… though I think my way was a little flashier than my godfather's; considering his prison was still standing after he left while I might have broken a few walls in my escape."

"Can you turn into an animal?"

"No. I haven't learned how. Sirius left me his notes and the instructions on how to learn but I never found the time to go over them and with the changes my magic forced on me I don't know if it would still be possible for me to change. If it is possible, the changes my magic made when I escaped will probably have affected what my animal would have been or will manifest as part of whatever animal I ended up as. I'd have to do a ton of research before even trying now though, because as far as I can tell, if I screw up there is no one here that could set me back to rights."

"Sounds like something that would be a useful trick," Duo commented.

"Unless you end up as something stupid; like a fish and you're lost in the desert or a garden slug and you're stuck in a salt mine. My dad's form was actually pretty risky; I mean really, what would he have done if some hunter had targeted him when he was out for a gambol during hunting season? On the other hand, because he was large and could use his antlers as a weapon he was really good at keeping Moony in check during the full moons."

That drew a few chuckles from the other pilots as the worry and tension that had filled the night slowly faded away now that Harry had finally calmed down and regained near complete control of his emotions. It helped that Trowa had quickly finished tending Harry's wing while he'd been engrossed in explaining the concept of pulling a Padfoot. Harry then sat around and listened to the pilots and Cathy chatting for a bit before he silently slipped away to sit on Heavyarms. He spent another hour staring up at the night sky as he thought about Sirius, the wizarding world, and his wings before he stretched out and fell asleep.

Over the last week of their camping trip, Wufei worked extensively with Harry helping him learn how to consciously control his wings and getting him to trust the instincts he'd gained alongside of them. Once he'd managed to grasp the basic concept of controlling his wings, Wufei helped him design a series of exercises to help strengthen his shoulder, back, and wing muscles in preparation for learning how to fly.

At the same time, Cathy made it her mission to teach Harry how to dance (after hearing about the disastrous Yule Ball from his fourth year one night at the start of that final week) in order to help him better adjust to the awkwardness of walking about with his wings (the wings having affected his center of gravity). She even dragged the other pilots into the lessons when she found out that a couple of them didn't know how to dance either. Quatre often played during those lessons after Cathy learned that the blonde had brought his violin along (the empath having recalled how calming Harry had found his music and brought the instrument along accordingly since they'd feared the worst upon learning Oz had captured the wizard).

When the time came for them to pack up and start heading back to the Winner Estate, Harry was almost sad to leave the forest because he knew reality was waiting for them back home. It took him close to an hour to round up all of the snakes and somehow managed to pick up another twenty local specimens that had been curious about meeting Harry after the ones he'd been working with at the circus had spoken of him with fondness. All of the snakes were checked for parasites before being allowed back into their cages since they'd spent the two weeks wandering about the woods and sampling the local rodent population; even Beauty received a quick check over since she'd spent quite a bit of time hanging about the camp in the trees.

When they were finally ready to move out, just after sunset, they ran into an unexpected problem. Harry's wings made using the seats they'd installed for him in the Gundams impractical because the wings got in the way of the harness on top of the fact that he'd basically outgrown the harness overnight. He ended up traveling with Cathy in the truck she had purchased to haul her trailer and the two enormous snake cages (both of which just barely fit in the truck bed). The seat belt was a pain at first but the problem was quickly resolved when Harry disconnected the shoulder strap so that it no longer pinched his right wing.

He first thought he'd grow bored riding in the truck for hours at a time but Cathy had him keep her entertained so she didn't fall asleep at the wheel. He did so hesitantly, at first, describing bits and pieces of his life both before and after he'd met the pilots. She was fascinated by his stories of Hogwarts and was soon getting him to describe different parts of the castle in detail, explain the various spells he'd learned, or discuss the theories behind magic and why spells worked the way they did.

After the first ten hours on the road, they took a short break to stretch their legs and Cathy jokingly told Harry that she was going to teach him how to drive so they could take turns at the wheel. Harry said he was game but would rather wait until he wouldn't have to worry about jostling the snakes or damaging her trailer if he messed up bad enough. That of course had Cathy promising to teach him once they made it back to the Winner Estate.

When Harry wasn't talking about himself or helping Cathy stay awake, he was typing away on his laptop working on the lessons that Quatre had sent him to keep him from getting too bored (and to help prevent him from getting caught up in the memories of his recent imprisonment). It was while he was on-line looking up something for one such lesson that he stumbled across the media report covering his escape from Treize's castle in Luxembourg.

He nearly cried when he learned that sixty-one of the seventy-five snakes he'd set free in the castle had been killed over the course of the two weeks it had taken them to clear out the debris from the sections of the castle that Harry had destroyed in his escape. At the same time he learned that the snakes had ultimately been responsible for approximately forty-five deaths on top of the eighty-some that Harry had killed in his desperate bid for freedom. A small part of him felt proud when he learned the full extent of the structural damage he'd caused to the castle along with the information that he'd fried the systems on close to sixty of OZ's mobile suits that had been housed beneath the castle in addition to taking out the circuits in and around the estate including the back up generators; though he agonized over the deaths he'd caused.

The knowledge that Treize, Une, Zechs (the masked man having been out of the castle that night), and Noin all survived that night left Harry feeling irritable and insecure as he knew they would seek him out again. It wasn't so much Zechs or Noin that bothered him (since those two hadn't really hurt him unless one counted the psychological effect Zechs' mere presence had on him because of the mask). Treize and Une, on the other hand, scared the shit out of him.

Une terrified him because she was cold, heartless, and knew one of his greatest fears and Treize because he was the one that held Une's leash and he allowed the woman free reign (or so it appeared). In reading through the report, Harry was confused and more than a little leery to find that OZ had filed a missing persons report for him along with a plea for information that would lead to his return instead of blaming the damage and deaths on him and labeling him as a criminal. The blame for that was placed on unknown terrorists.

Harry would have thought the Gundam pilots would have been blamed but apparently no one had witnessed the Gundams any where near the castle despite Heero at least being in the area as the pilot had been the one that saved Harry from his downward plunge. He was further irritated after he checked the date on the report and realized that the pilots had apparently been keeping that information from him all this time. He turned on his communication radio (that had been replaced just before they left the forest as his original one had been lost when he faked Wing's self-destruction) and addressed all five pilots.

"One of you want to tell me when you were planning on telling me that OZ is telling the world that I am their missing ward and that they are offing a substantial reward for my immediate return?"

"_You already suspected that they would be looking for you; does confirmation of the suspicion really change anything and do the exact details really matter all that much?_" Heero inquired after five minutes of complete silence.

"You bet your ass they do!"

"Language, young man," Cathy admonished; the young woman recently having taken on the self-appointed task of curbing Harry's tendency to cuss when angry or upset now that he felt comfortable enough in her presence to not censor his mouth around her.

Harry rolled his eyes and huffed but refrained from cursing further as he continued his small tirade, "You do realize that the moment anyone sees me with any of you they are going to report you as kidnappers and they will use that as an excuse to lock you guys up as well, right? Did it even occur to you that they are probably trying to use me to find and catch the five of you since they know I have a connection to the Gundams? Cathy is at risk right this minute because I'm sitting in the truck with her! They plastered pictures of me all over the internet; pictures of me from both before and after I disguised myself for our act."

"_You look quite a bit different now, Harry; I doubt you will be as easily recognized as you were before,_" Trowa pointed out in an effort to diffuse Harry's obvious irritation.

"They recognized the fu… my stupid scar, Trowa! All it will take is one person getting a glimpse of my scar and taking a picture of me to forward to OZ."

"_So we hide da scar with a headband or a little make-up,_" Duo tossed out.

"_You can even change your eye and hair color again to further change your appearance,_" Trowa suggested at the same time.

"No, I can't… my hair and left eye resisted all attempts to change their color after I canceled the original spell."

"_What about changing your right eye to match the color of your left?_"

"That's not the point! Someone could have already seen me with one of you!"

"_Why do you think Cathy is sticking to back roads instead of traveling through populated areas? We aren't taking any careless risks, Harry. We've a beacon on Cathy's truck and we're constantly monitoring your course for trouble. We didn't say anything because we didn't want you to worry needlessly,_" Quatre interjected calmly.

"_If it bothers you that much, Harry, I put that fancy cloak of yours that you left with me in the backpack I passed to you before we left the forest; you can always throw it on if you think there's a chance you could be seen._"

"_Everything will be fine, even if someone does see and recognize ya,_" Duo added when Harry didn't respond to Heero's last statement. "_We aren't gonna let anyone take us or ya without a fight._"

"I just don't like being treated like a mushroom," Harry groused after another minute as some of his anger fled.

"_Don't go over exaggeratin', kiddo,_" Duo barked with a laugh. "_While we might have withheld a little information out of concern because ya were havin' a hard enough time dealin' with everything else that doesn't mean we've been keepin' ya in da dark and feedin' ya bullshit. Nine times outta ten we've been right up front with ya about everything and ya know that._"

"Doesn't make it any less annoying… Is there anything else you've been keeping from me for my protection that I should maybe know about before it comes back to bite me in the… err comes back to haunt me?"

"_Which article did you find?_" Wufei asked, joining the conversation for the first time.

"The one that was dated roughly a week after I escaped."

"_Then you should know that it is Zechs claiming to be your guardian, not OZ as an entity, and that he has personally been searching for you over the last three weeks; apparently neglecting his military duties to do so. We also hacked into OZ's mainframe and found a new file that they have been putting together on you based upon everything they learned while you were in their custody and from the night you escaped._"

"Okay… that is seriously creepy. Why is that masked madman stalking me? It was disturbing enough when I had the disembodied spirit of Riddle stalking me but at least I knew he just wanted to kill me; I have no fu… frickin clue what Zechs wants with me. And what exactly do they say in that file about me?"

"_I've just sent you a copy of the file, copies of the rest of the media reports that have been published, security footage of your imprisonment, audio records of conversations recorded between Zechs and Treize, and a copy of the police report that was filed._"

"Thanks, Wufei."

"_Don't let what you read bother you too much, Harry,_" Heero instructed sternly. "_We can discuss everything when we reach our transport in two days._"

"Okay."

Harry turned off the radio and slipped off the headset as he pulled his legs up onto the seat with him and set about opening and decoding the file that Wufei had sent him. When he saw that there was close to six gigs of data he felt slightly sick to his stomach because he hadn't thought that they'd managed to gather that much information on him over the short amount of time he'd been in their care. He relaxed slightly when he found that more than two thirds of that space was occupied by the security videos that had been recorded, the mentioned audio files, and an assortment of digital photographs that had been taken of him.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?" Harry hummed in response to Cathy's call as he opened up the police report to read through first.

"You do know that it's alright to let others watch over you sometimes, right?"

"Huh?"

"They just wanted to give you time to deal with what you'd been through while you were being held captive and allow you time to adjust to all of the changes you'd gone through. They argued for days about how to rescue you from OZ's clutches. They also argued over how to hide you from OZ when Heero had stumbled across you while he and Duo were scouting the castle's defenses right after your unexpected escape. They argued again after you woke up when they saw how shaken you were and how quickly you lashed out when you felt threatened. It was difficult for all of us to see you in such a state and they were afraid that revealing everything they learned along with Zechs' obsession would have been the straw that broke the camel's back."

"I'm not angry that they were trying to protect me, Catherin," Harry softly explained as he tore his eyes away from the laptop and glanced up to study her profile as she drove through yet another mountain pass. "I'm angry that they didn't take into consideration their own safety. Growing up all I ever wanted was a real family. It took me sixteen long, cold, painful, and lonely years along with being torn from everything I knew before I found a group of individuals that I could truly call family and the thought of losing them now terrifies me. By not telling me that OZ, no, that Zechs was claiming me as his ward and filed a missing person report, they left themselves and you vulnerable to any mistake I make that will see me recognized. That is what made me so angry."

"We were fully aware of the risks and we took extra care when planning our escape routes," Cathy dryly pointed out as she glanced briefly in Harry's direction. "That was one of the reasons we sat in one place for so long; to give your trail time to go cold and to allow you time to come to terms with everything so that there was less of a chance of you drawing attention to yourself. Originally, you were going to be safely tucked into one of the Gundams but the presence of your wings complicated matters a little."

Harry snorted, "Try a lot."

"Alright, they complicated matters a lot," Cathy agreed with a small smile. "That's not the point and you know it."

"Yes, mother."

"Cheeky brat."

Harry chuckled softly and let a smile play about his lips as he returned to reading through the report. The smile slipped away a short while later when he finished the police report and moved onto the various articles and reports that had been published on the internet. He was scowling by the time he started going through the information that OZ had collected before, during, and after his imprisonment.

He also learned that they had a pair of less than perfect pictures that they thought might be him from the night the pilots had helped him raid his island cave; one of him and Heero flying on the motorcycle just before he'd captured the four suits chasing them (taken just after Sirius's bike had been clipped when the invisibility spell had fallen) and one of Heero carrying him as the pilot pulled Relena to safety just before OZ destroyed the building. Those were in addition to all of the pictures that they had gathered from the transport battle, the circus, and over the course of his imprisonment.

The most disturbing pictures, at least for Harry, were the ones that were taken during his imprisonment. They'd carefully documented each and every scar on his body no matter how small. In fact, they'd taken pictures of any and every mark that could potentially be used to identify him. Additionally, they'd taken and analyzed a sample of his blood and had not only his blood type listed but the complete sequencing of his D.N.A. and a full list of the anti-bodies that had been found in the sample. Along with that they'd compiled a list of the anomalies found in his blood; those anti-bodies not present in this world's population, the unfamiliar markers in his D.N.A., and several other little abnormalities that had never been seen before.

"What do they mean when they list me as a Genetically Enhanced Newtype?" Harry asked after coming across the unfamiliar term several times.

"Genetically enhanced basically means that someone fiddled with a person's D.N.A. to make improvements to their body; making them faster, stronger, healthier, or resistant to things like drugs. Newtype on the other hand is what they call those people who were born with Talents," Cathy replied. "A few examples would be telepathy, telekinesis, and elemental manipulation."

"Ah… the almost but not quite magics that developed in this world; like Quatre's empathy and Trowa's affinity with animals."

"Yes."

Harry noted that they had his Newtype abilities listed as telekinesis, fire manipulation, snake charming, and illusions. His suspected genetic enhancements included drug resistance, increased stamina, and enhanced speed. Under other skills they had knife throwing, competency in hand held firearms, lock picking, and piloting mobile suits. They also stated that the full range of his skills was largely unknown and that extreme caution should be used when approaching him. When he got to the file containing his mental evaluation he couldn't help but chuckle as he read through what they'd written there.

"What's so funny?"

"They have me listed as mentally unstable and emotionally unbalanced with a tendency towards violence, low self esteem, and an unhealthy disregard for my own life and the lives of others."

"How exactly is that funny?"

"Because they saw exactly what I wanted them to see," Harry replied softly. "I played mind games with them to keep myself from thinking about the fact that I was all alone and the fear that I'd never see the pilots or you again. Although, truth be told I'm probably more than a little unhinged mentally because I don't think any one could have lived through my life and come out with their sanity completely intact. And they were way off base when they said I had no regard for life; I am not really in any hurry to die (though the thought of dying doesn't scare me), I don't set out to kill other people, and each death I've caused weighs heavily on my soul. It's just that I know that there are worse things than death and the health and safety of my mismatched family is far more important than my health and happiness."

"You do know they will use that against you, right?"

"They already have… when they threatened you and Trowa in an attempt to buy my cooperation."

"Promise me that you won't do anything reckless if the worst happens," Cathy half begged and half ordered as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel and glanced at him worriedly from the corner of her eye.

"I can't… I will do whatever it takes to protect you and my brothers."

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**AN: **_Hey wow... two extra long chapters back to back... I have no excuse other than that I'd promised an update today and yesterday's chapter was an extra of sorts. I'd originally planned to post this on Sunday but because I'm worried about getting sick again myself figured I'd post it now just in case. I still plan to answer reviews when I can but posting a chapter is actually far easier than reading and answering all of the questions and comments right this minute. I will get to them soon (I hope). I was also very happy that there wasn't a huge slew of negative reviews in response to the previous chapter as I had feared there would be.  
_

_Anyway, this was another rather intense chapter but one that I think shows just how much of a positive influence the pilots have had on Harry and how much he has grown mentally and emotionally since winding up in their care. We also see hints of the maturity he has been suppressing beneath the cloud of doom and self-pity he'd wrapped around himself at the beginning of the story. It is that influence and maturity that has him opening up instead of shutting down completely and allows him to deal with what happened so that it doesn't cripple him this time (unlike the two years he spent suppressing everything that had happened during his Hogwarts years). _

_There might be some grumbles over how Harry seemingly had no problems with physical contact so soon after what happened with the guards but there is a logical explanation for that. First, with Duo, you have to remember that our favorite shinigami had been the one spending the most time working with Harry to get him accustomed to innocent/harmless physical contact back before the ambush and Harry has not exactly forgotten that even if he still doesn't like to be touched in general. In the case of Trowa, Harry had spent weeks living and interacting with Trowa and therefore had grown close to Trowa during that time. _

_Next there is Harry's oath. It may appear that Harry broke his oath in this chapter and the last chapter but that isn't true. He had been given permission to protect himself and while he might have skirted the order not to reveal his magic to potential enemies there are several things to keep in mind. _

_One, all electricity in the castle had been shut down in the blast of magic unleashed when Harry's mind and magic rebelled against what was happening to him which meant that there was no chance of his magical exploits being caught on camera. Two, it was night time and therefore visibility was limited so that those that did see him wouldn't necessarily see exactly what it was that he was doing. And three, Harry was using banishing charms to clear the living obstacles from his path; a spell that has no visible effects. His blasting curses on the other hand could easily be mistaken for beam weaponry by those that saw those spells as that would be the most logical leap for those that don't know about his magic. _

_As for him hexing Heero; you have to remember that Heero had given Harry permission to hex him if he unintentionally hurt him (even if he didn't exactly tell Harry that to his face) and he didn't limit that to just physical pain at the time he'd given the unspoken permission. Basically, that means that the emotional pain caused by Heero's intent to self-destruct qualified as him unintentionally hurting Harry and therefore allowed Harry to take him to task for it. _

_There's also the fact that Harry promised Heero he'd hex the snot out of him if he did anything stupid that would affect the deal he'd made with Heero in exchanging training for magical protection which would conclude with Harry being freed from his oath (and if Heero died then he'd never be freed from the oath). His hugging Heero after Heero apologized is also rather symbolic; an unspoken declaration that Harry no longer resents Heero for what happened when they first met. _

_As I'd said at the end of the last chapter, and despite Harry's doubts in this chapter, he is still human. He'll get confirmation on that later down the line. The information about his wings being a physical manifestation of his magic will be important later on in the story as well as will the revelation that a wizard's magic is connected to their soul. I'm not going to say anything more than that as there will be more information given about magic, souls, and the lack of other wizards in the story later on. _

_Anyway, I've rambled on enough. The next chapter will move the story forward and give more information on what else is happening in the world. Until then, thank you very much for the reviews and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. ~ Jenn_


	22. The Calm before the Storm

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 21: The Calm before the Storm

Harry spent the rest of the time they were on the road in near silence, only occasionally engaging in conversation when Cathy grew tired and needed the distraction to remain awake. He did a considerable amount of research during that time; listening to the audio files, watching a handful of the videos that he'd been sent, and monitoring the internet for any mention of him or Zechs. He also spent a number of hours researching a magical solution for hiding his wings and keeping them out of the way. He stumbled upon the perfect solution quite by accident when he was explaining the difference between space expansion and one of the hidden pockets that Harry had created in his clothing to hide his knives to Cathy.

The pockets were created by taking actual space and compressing it flat in order to allow an object to be hidden in a relatively small pocket while Notice-Me-Not Charms hid the openings and a Weight Reduction Charm on the actual pocket reduced the weight of whatever was stored inside. Expansion charms on the other hand would take that same amount of space and stretch it out to create extra space within an object or room. Combining the two ideas would give Harry invisible pockets that could potentially hold a vast amount of space inside; space in which he could tuck his wings without risking injury or discomfort while at the same time protecting them from discovery and inadvertent touches.

The difficulty would lay in getting the expansion charm to function with the additional charms without over saturating the fabric with high amounts of magic. He knew it could be done; his trunks were evidence of that since he was easily able to carry thousands of tons of metal around in his money trunk alone; however, wood and metal could both withstand a far higher amount of magic when compared to ordinary fabric.

His research into the new pockets was placed on hold when they reached the transport planes and found all five pilots waiting for them. He didn't waste any time on childish fits or bother holding a grudge because he'd had plenty of time to come to terms with their decision to shelter him just a little. Some of what he'd learned from the files that Wufei had sent him had left him reeling for hours afterwards and if he'd not had nearly four weeks to center his emotions before he read through those reports and watched some of the videos he might have completely flipped. In some ways, the experience was a lesson in maturity for Harry because it made him stop and take a close look at how he'd behaved in the past when faced with unpleasant revelations.

He would go on to spend most of the flight picking Wufei's brain as they sat down and analyzed everything from the reports together. Heero and the others occasionally added their input as well, though as the group's main researcher, Wufei was far better at finding the patterns in the information. Together they were able to determine that OZ hadn't connected the castle wide power failure (including that of the Taurus suits on the grounds) with Harry's escape, blaming it instead on sabotage from someone who had infiltrated their ranks in order to facilitate or take advantage of Harry's desperate flight. (Something that the pilots had actually planned on doing themselves before Harry negated the need for them to do so.)

Harry thought it was stupid of them to not connect the malfunctioning suits at the castle to the malfunctioning suits during the ambush. Wufei pulled up the reports from a pair of suits from both sites and showed Harry the differences in how his magic affected the suits based upon which systems were active at the time they were hit. It was those differences that allowed OZ personnel to overlook and discount the significance of Harry's presence in both instances.

Harry felt distinctly wrung out by the time they finished and he was more than a little surprised when he felt the plane landing not long after they'd shut down their laptops. It was at that point that nervousness invaded Harry as he realized he'd soon have to face the Maganacs and their reactions to the changes he'd undergone in his appearance. His anxiety was readily apparent, and not just to Quatre who could feel how worried he was, and the five pilots glanced at one another before Trowa withdrew a juggling ball from his pocket and bounced it off the back of Harry's head. Harry jumped and turned around to stare wide eyed at Trowa before glancing down at the ball rolling across the floor.

Harry then ended up chasing the normally stoic teen into the cargo hold and down out of the plane, both of them laughing as they occasionally tossed the juggling ball back and forth. They'd just reach the bottom of the ramp when Harry kicked off the ramp, snapped his wings wide to control his short glide, and knocked Trowa down with a flying tackle. He was then treated to his first ever tickle fight that didn't involve spells before the sound of laughter had him looking up in shock as he found Abdul and Rashid watching the pair of them while the rest of the Maganacs serviced the plane. Embarrassed and uncertain, Harry scrambled off of Trowa and blushed as his wings fluttered nervously before he consciously pulled them in tight against his body.

"It is good to see you in good health and good humor, Master Harry," Rashid stated warmly as he reached out to give Trowa a hand up off the ground. "We were worried about you when we first learned of your injuries and then later of your kidnapping."

"I missed everyone here, too," Harry replied with a shy smile. "I learned some new knife tricks though and had fun performing in front of the crowd while we were with the circus. I wish you guys could have seen us."

"I'm certain you stole the show every time you walked into the ring," Abdul hypothesized as he walked up and briefly ruffled Harry's hair.

Harry flinched at the touch and tensed for a split second before he relaxed and smiled up at the man (the touch brief enough that it didn't leave Harry feeling threatened). His worry about their reactions faded as he chatted with the two men while the Gundams were off loaded along with the cages containing the snakes. Harry earned quite a bit of ribbing from the various adults about collecting more snakes that he laughed off as he crawled into Beauty's cage to sooth the agitated python (she wasn't overly fond of flying).

He'd just barely finished calming her down when he recalled Seth and he let out a startled gasp before he took off running. By the time the others caught up with him to find out what was wrong, they found Harry cringing on the floor of his bedroom on his knees in front of a looming and exceedingly pissed off Seth. Harry wasn't actually afraid of the snake nor was the snake even considering harming Harry; Seth was merely scolding Harry and giving the winged wizard a tongue lashing of a lifetime for worrying the cobra. Once it was determined that Harry was in no danger from his legless friend, the others left him to sooth the irritated reptile while they helped move their suits into the underground hanger.

A couple of days later, Quatre gave Harry permission to turn an empty suite of rooms into a snake house for all of his tagalongs when it became apparent that the local environment too harsh for the forest and jungle dwelling creatures and that their current accommodations weren't adequate enough to protect them from the heat. Harry used the opportunity to master using the expansion charm, which he'd previously only used on a limited basis when adding space in the multi-layered venomous snake habitat and on the area beneath the cot inside of the dungeon cell he'd been kept in during his time with OZ.

When he finished transforming the pair of interconnected rooms; the new rooms gave one the impression that they were walking into a whole new world or stepping into a piece of nature that had been preserved. The snakes were extremely pleased to say the least; Beauty most especially as Harry had taken extra care in creating her habitat with an eye for acquiring a couple of companions for her so she wouldn't be quite so lonely (what with her being the only tropical snake currently in Harry's mismatched collection).

It only took a week for Harry to settle back into the familiar routine he'd established back before the disastrous ambush staged by OZ. In that time he'd also successfully created a shirt that would hide all traces of his wings without irritating or injuring them after eight failed attempts. He'd quickly found that he had to use button up shirts that were comprised of at least two layers so that he had an enclosed space within which to create the expanded pocket and because a pullover-shirt, unless exceedingly baggy, tended to catch on his wings.

He then had to apply strengthening charms to the fabric before he could apply the compression charm to create the initial pocket between the layers in order to prevent the shirt from being torn apart by the expansion charm. He'd wanted to add a warming charm too but the one time he tried caused the shirt he'd been working on to disintegrate the moment he applied the expansion charm (which always had to be done last).

Once he'd been successful in creating a working wing pocket, Harry found that he couldn't layer the new shirt with more than two or three of the hidden pockets designed to hold his knives and throwing cards on top of the expanded space for his wings since the over-saturation of magic would cause the shirt to disintegrate. To solve the conflict and still maintain a larger number of the hidden pockets, Harry took to wearing a skin tight long sleeve shirt that had been modified to accommodate his wings (meaning it was mostly backless with a Velcro strap attached to the back to hold the bottom of the shirt in place) that he lined with close to two dozen hidden pockets. Over top of that he'd wear a loose button up shirt spelled with two expanded pockets; one to hide his wings and the second, smaller one hidden inside the fold down collar of the shirt to provide any of the snakes traveling on his person a safer place to hide.

Just as he'd needed to get used to moving and walking with the weight and presence of his wings, Harry had needed a few days to adjust to the change in his equilibrium when the wings were hidden from sight. Once he could walk without tripping over his own feet because he misjudged his center of gravity; Harry began practicing with his knives once more (now that his wings were no longer in danger of getting injured if he made a mistake).

It didn't take Harry very long to learn how to adjust his technique to incorporate the changes that had been made to his body. In fact, Harry quickly noticed that his movements were far more fluid and that he'd gained a measure of flexibility beyond what he'd had previously; another trait that he suspected had bled over from the magical venom that he still believed had been in his blood at the time of his change. His other training with the pilots and the Maganacs helped as well; strengthening his body and his awareness of his body both with and without his wings hidden.

During his second week back, Harry started to learn how to drive a handful of various vehicles. Cathy made good on her promise to teach him how to drive her truck, Duo began teaching him how to drive a smaller motorbike (Sirius's bike still too large and heavy for him to drive alone), and Trowa began teaching him how to fly the numerous planes they'd acquired (starting with the smallest). Wufei started teaching him the basics of sword fighting and teaching him the proper pronunciation of the Chinese language so that Harry could not only use the written characters in warding but speak and read it as well.

Quatre introduced Harry to the joys and pains of English literature and taught him the proper way to write essays (something that he'd only learned the bare basics of when still attending public school and that Hogwarts hadn't really taught him despite the fact that all of his professors had required him to write essays). Heero, on the other hand, continued building upon the lessons he'd been giving Harry in piloting mobile suits. Part of that involved an attempt to toss Harry into the cockpits of the Alliance suits he'd helped steal with magic months earlier in order to allow Harry to be able to pilot any suit he came across. Harry had balked over the mere idea of piloting those particular suits for a full hour until Heero asked him flat out why it mattered which suit he learned in.

That led to Harry reluctantly explaining about what he sensed when he touched or climbed inside of the various suits and how the cold, alien hostility he felt emanating from the Alliance and OZ suits made him feel ill. He'd gone on to timidly admit that one of the reasons he felt so comfortable with all five pilots and a lesser extent the Maganacs was because their suits radiated warmth and security. As a compromise (in order to train Harry in a suit other than one of the Gundams), Heero and the other pilots (after much debate) gave Harry the Taurus suit that he'd warded since it was the only one of the captured suits that the winged teen felt even remotely comfortable around (thanks to his wards and the spells he'd cast on it countering the cold hostility) and Abdul gave him lessons in operating the various suits of the Maganac Corps.

To further separate the warded Taurus from the OZ suits, the once purple suit was painted black with gold and silver highlights and all of the external light panels on the suit (such as the yellow panel on the head) were changed over from yellow to green. Inside, the pilot's chair had been modified to account for Harry's short and petite stature (though he was no where near as small as he had been previously) and designed to swivel from left to right to make it easier for him to reach the various control panels inside the suit. The extra space created by moving the seat allowed for them to install a pair of passenger seats behind the pilot's chair so that Harry could transport other people or equipment as needed (the cockpit of the Taurus suits being far smaller than that of the Gundams). Harry had gone on to christen the newly revamped suit Dogstar, once he'd seen the new paint job, in honor of his godfather.

Right after agreeing to the compromise that Heero offered, Harry used the absorption spell to learn every thing he could about the suit; including committing to memory everything he'd stolen from OZ about the Taurus suits while he had been held captive. With his newfound familiarity with the suit's many systems, Harry was able to focus his training lessons on learning how to maneuver the suit as an extension of himself. This included learning how to walk, fight, and fly in both flight and suit mode. Heero hadn't been surprised when Harry's reckless daring on a broom translated into reckless daring while in the air inside of the suit and his stunts often left more than one of his watchers and co-pilots looking a bit green around the gills.

After getting comfortable with piloting the suit, Harry began making further modifications to the machine with his magic. The first thing he did was counter the negative affects high speeds usually inflicted upon the pilot (and passengers); making it far easier to maneuver and pull off some of his crazier stunts without the risk of internal damage. Using Sirius's notes, Harry had integrated an invisibility booster and a silencing ward into the suit in addition to a temperature masking charm so that, much like Sirius's motorcycle, he could completely vanish from sight and scanners (both visual and thermal).

The protective spells and wards woven into the suit not only protected it from enemy fire but from the elements as well and increased the comfort of the pilot by regulating the temperature both inside and outside of the suit (the temperature spell on the outside linked to the masking spell that hid the heat generated by the suit), maintaining a steady supply of oxygen in the cockpit, and reducing the amount of turbulence the pilot experiences in case of a crash or a direct hit; each spell woven into the system that performed the same task so that the two worked together to better perform their designated function.

Duo and Trowa helped Harry to design a set of knives for Dogstar that could be superheated like Sandrock's shotel and were easily thrown. Eight of the blades were stored in a pair of magically hidden compartments on the outer thighs of the suit while another eight were stored in similar compartments on the inside of the forearms. The pair of beam swords created for the suit (one of which was originally intended as a spare) were modeled after the wakizashi blade Wufei had given him and fairly unique among suit weapons because they could be combined to form a twin bladed staff in addition to being wielded separately. The swords were stored on the outer forearms of Dogstar when not in use.

Originally, they were going to add a shield to the suit as well but ended up discarding the shield since the protective wards and spells negated the need and Harry's fighting technique was two-handed since he mostly used his knives and not the swords (which the presence of a shield would seriously hamper). The final change to Dogstar's weaponry was the replacement of the beam rifle with a pair of compact beam pistols which were far easier for Harry to operate and aim and stored in special compartments on the suit's hips.

Inside, Harry added several storage cupboards along the back wall and floor; one for food, one for handheld weapons, one for holding extra ammunition for the suit's projectile weapons and spare weapon parts, one for medical supplies, one for tools and spare suit parts, and one to hold general supplies and survival equipment. He even added in a small terrarium so that he could transport a couple of snakes safely inside the suit (at Seth's insistence). The icing on the cake though was the small bathroom complete with working shower, sink, and toilet that he added after Duo had made a sarcastic comment about Harry trying to turn the mobile suit into a mobile home.

Once finished, Harry thought the suit was even better than the magical tent he'd stayed in during the Quidditch World Cup before his forth year; if only because it could fly.

The final magical modification he made to the suit was to design and install a magical amplifier that would allow him to use magic outside of the suit while piloting it (one of the problems he'd discovered the day of the ambush had been that it took far too much power and concentration to move his spells through the suit). It had required the door to the cockpit to be completely redesigned but it had been worth it to be able to cast spells while on the battlefield.

Set into the middle of the new door, was a large star cut diamond (one with multiple flaws marring the clarity of the gem) and more than three times the normal number of facets cut into the lower girdle of the diamond giving it the appearance of a hazy starburst set in the shape of a five pointed star (roughly two and a half inches in diameter from the tips of the five points and fairly shallow cut). The diamond was set in a section of Gundanium that Duo had procured through Howard that Harry had covered with a series of intricately carved amplification, strengthening, stabilizing, and protective runes which he'd painted with his blood. On the underside of the diamond, where it came into contact with the door, there was a hole drilled into the gem just large enough to snugly fit the first half inch of Harry's wand tip into.

Once the diamond amplifier was set into the new door, that small pocket sat directly over an open tunnel in the door that would allow Harry to insert his wand through the door in order to place it in direct contact with the amplifier. The small tunnel was sheathed in another section of Gundanium with the same runes inscribed inside and out and snug enough that there would be no gap between the alloy and the wood of Harry's wand once it was slipped into place. The shape and number of facets of the diamond allowed Harry to use spells that could affect a rather large area in addition to more traditional spells that affected a specific target depending on how much magic he pushed into his spells.

While the various training and projects Harry was working on filled up most of his time, he still found time to worry about his unwanted stalker as he continued to monitor Zechs' ongoing search for him. Apparently the man was currently tracking down every single circus troupe and searching their tents and trailers for a boy prodigy that could handle knives and charm snakes. This was after the man had combed through the orphanages and homeless shelters of mainland Europe and Japan (since he had correctly deduced that Harry had first shown up on the island nation – even if he was off by nearly two years on his timing).

It worried Harry that the man was turning out to be just as obsessive as Voldemort in his pursuit of Harry. The thing that bothered him the most though was the fact that Harry still had absolutely no idea why the man was so determined to chase him down whereas Harry had known Voldemort just wanted to kill him.

Near the middle of Harry's third week back, Trowa, Cathy, and Harry were talked into performing their act for everyone now that Harry had been able to regain the coordination he'd lost after his change. It took an entire day to set the courtyard up for the show, since they had to build all of the props from scratch because their original ones had been lost or left behind after Harry had been taken by Treize.

Harry was as nervous as he'd been the first time he'd stepped into the ring to perform in front of the crowd but Trowa put him at ease by walking up and playfully bouncing an extra juggling ball off Harry's head before poking him in the side. After that Harry had no problem falling into his role as the clumsy kid stumbling into the ring by accident. There was a brief moment when Harry nearly panicked after the snakes carried him into the crate when he temporarily got caught between the memory of the day Treize had separated him from Trowa and the present; but Seth (who had chosen to take part in the show) snapped him out of it with a sharp hiss of rebuke.

Once that part of the show was over, Harry showed off a few of the card tricks that Cathy had helped him learn. He also revealed the deadly deck of cards he'd created for the first time, demonstrating his ability to juggle two thirds of the flimsy looking cards before shocking everyone into silence by using the cards to completely demolish one of the wooden target boards that had been set up for the knife throwing demonstration. Harry then sat back to watch some of the Maganacs perform acrobatics and show off a few of their own new tricks.

Wufei and Heero demonstrated their swordsmanship with a rather heated sword fight that left Harry slightly breathless at how close they'd come to injuring one another. Quatre and Trowa had a bit of a musical battle next, the two of them trying to make each other trip up as they played more and more complicated pieces that clashed and harmonized in turns. And finally, Heero and Duo had a shooting competition to see who could hit the dead center of the target the most number of times consecutively with Trowa joining in at the last second and beating them both. Overall, the night's activities had been fun and left Harry feeling far more content than he had felt in a long time.

Sadly, the peace and contentment wasn't to last as breaking news the next day had the first Colony (which happened to be L3) renouncing the Gundam pilots and throwing their lot in with OZ. Treize had apparently sent Lady Une into space after she'd recovered from the injuries she'd received during Harry's escape and she'd been just as ruthless in dealing with Alliance troops out in space as she had been in attacking Harry's fears. She also proved that she was just as adept at portraying herself as the epitome of a peace loving delegate as she wooed the various Colony leaders around to OZ's way of thinking.

The news was devastating for the five pilots because they'd risked everything in order to protect the Colonies and to have the Colonies start turning their backs on them now nearly broke them. That was when Harry found himself in a role reversal of sorts where it was him trying to protect and comfort the pilots and help them cope with the betrayal. The five of them had immediately wanted to take off into space to confront OZ and beat sense into the Colonies and it took all of Harry's Slytherin instincts to talk sense into them.

He wasn't opposed to taking the fight out into space, because he could understand the reasoning behind such a move, what he did oppose was the pilots running off and going their own separate ways without a solid plan and leaving him alone. Once he had gotten through their anger, disgust, and hurt, Harry got them to work together to create a viable plan, prepare their cover stories, and secure their transportation out into space.

The first thing they realized was that, while Harry had been able to improve the Gundams using his magic, the suits were ill-equipped for space travel and space battle. The Tauruses on the other hand were ideal as they had been designed specifically to engage in combat in the vacuum of space. They only had three of the Taurus suits on hand though and one of them was Harry's; so they made plans to steal another three suits and a space shuttle.

While Wufei and Quatre did research to find out where they could get both the suits and the shuttle, Harry warded the two remaining Taurus suits they had on hand with the help of Trowa and Heero while the Maganacs and Duo made some of the same upgrades and slight modifications that they'd put into Dogstar to the suits. When their target had been located, mapped, and the security of the base analyzed; Heero, Trowa, and Wufei set about planning their theft. Harry crashed that meeting and told them that they needed to keep the entire thing far more low key than their current plans so as to avoid the theft being traced back to the pilots. He then presented them with his ideas (including the part he would be playing) before leaving them to their plotting while he finished applying the magical upgrades to the two newly warded suits.

Those included protective wards, the magical stealth capabilities (with power absorption and storage runes so the squib-level pilots could use them without requiring Harry's presence), the stabilizing spells to prevent internal damage at the higher speeds, and the extra storage space (including bathrooms, passenger seating, and a fold out bed – something he also added to Dogstar after designing the first one). The last thing he did to all three suits was add a defensive shock ward that would electrocute anyone who wasn't tied into the ward before he tied all five of the pilots, Cathy, and all of the Maganacs into the ward with a combination of blood (theirs mixed with his) and magic.

The night they snuck in to steal the suits and shuttle, Harry piloted Dogstar on his first official mission as an actual pilot with Heero and Trowa riding shotgun behind him in the passenger seats. Wufei and Quatre were standing by in their Gundams to cover their retreat should anything go wrong and Duo was piloting their ride in and out. With the magical stealth mode activated, Harry landed Dogstar gently beside the space port's hanger where the passenger shuttles were stored. Heero then slipped out wearing Harry's invisibility cloak and a temperature regulating charm that would hide him from both the surveillance cameras and the heat sensors to disable the security on the hanger doors and open them so that Harry could slip inside with Dogstar.

"_All clear, kid; go ahead and slip Dogstar through the door._"

"Roger that, Hee-man," Harry replied (using Duo's nickname for Heero in retaliation for the teen calling him kid again - even if it didn't bother him as much as it had before) as he ducked down and passed beneath the half raised door before bringing the suit back into a standing position while Heero closed the door to hide their activity.

Harry then slipped out of his harness and grabbed his Firebolt as he opened the cockpit door, he'd be shrinking and lightening one shuttle while Trowa striped a second for parts in order to replace any components damaged by Harry's magic in the first shuttle. Heero, in the mean time, would keep watch for security patrols passing through the area and make certain that the security cameras played a continuous loop of the footage from the hour prior to their break in.

Harry carefully flew himself and Trowa down to the ground (something he'd practiced for several times before they left the Estate so that he felt confident in carrying a passenger) and allowed the teen to choose which shuttle they'd be commandeering parts from. He then dropped the green-eyed teen off beside the shuttle before allowing Heero to verbally guide him to a shuttle that had just been prepared for flight and recently fueled. Ten minutes later, Harry was ferrying their new shuttle up into Dogstar where he promptly fixed it to the wall with a sticking charm; being unable to place the shrunken shuttle inside of the storage cupboards because the shrinking charm would destabilize the expansion charm.

Harry then dropped back down to help Trowa transfer the spare parts into the suit's storage before picking Trowa up and letting Heero know they were finished with phase one of their operation. Phase two saw the three of them performing a similar retrieval from the base's mobile suit hanger where close to two hundred Taurus suits were awaiting shipment into space. Harry ended up stealing a total of ten suits before helping Trowa gather plenty of spare parts and circuit boards from several more suits.

Once they had everything they needed, Harry initiated phase three while Trowa moved Dogstar out of the hanger. Phase three involved Harry sabotaging all of the mobile suits and dolls with his magic (rigging the suits so that they would explode the moment they were exposed to the harsh conditions of space) in order to cripple OZ's presence in space. Harry then joined Heero, slipping beneath the cloak as Heero climbed on the broom behind him before reengaging the security system for the hanger and disrupting the one for the pilots' locker room.

Together, they slipped into the locker room and stole nearly all of the spacesuits and much of the other gear laying around by simply dumping everything into Harry's supply trunk. Harry then flew them out of the building after Heero reengaged the cameras and the two of them rejoined Trowa in Dogstar before slipping out of the base much as they'd slipped in; silent and unseen.

"Mission complete; ten minutes to rendezvous," Harry announced through the radio as he buckled himself in and initiated Dogstar's flight mode as he pointed the nose towards the sky.

"_Read ya loud and clear, kiddo; watch your back as ya pull out, there are three squads of Aries patrollin' da sky,_" Duo replied back cheerfully.

"Understood; leaving stealth mode engaged."

Ten minutes later, Harry was gliding the still invisible Dogstar into the open cargo bay doors of the plane Duo was flying as naturally as if he'd been flying mobile suits all of his life. Setting the suit down gently, Harry canceled the stealth charms and shut down the engines before jumping out of the cockpit and setting about securing the suit in place while Heero closed the bay door. Trowa joined them a few minutes later and the three of them grinned at each other before they headed up to the passenger section of the plane to strap themselves into their seats; Heero joining Duo in the cockpit.

"Ten suits Harry? I thought we were only grabbing three," Trowa remarked dryly with a touch of amusement.

"We can never have enough spare parts," Harry cheekily replied. "They'll find themselves a little short on spacesuits as well."

"Oh, do tell; how many suits did you and Heero nab in those eight minutes?"

"I didn't keep count but I know we managed to get all but a small handful on top of a bunch of other gear they had lying around within easy reach. I could have sworn I saw Heero collecting a ton of handheld beam guns too."

"I can't believe we've completely corrupted you in the short time we've known you."

"Nah… I was never as innocent as I looked," Harry quipped back with a grin. "I was smuggling dragons, destroying priceless artifacts, brewing controlled substances, infiltrating enemy lines, and helping escaped convicts long before I met you five."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Yeah… exactly… I mean all you guys did was encourage me to steal classified information, play with sharp objects, and break into government facilities."

"You are an incorrigible brat, you know that?"

"Ah, I can't be incorrigible… I'm too adorable; Cathy said so."

"Says the kid who just robbed an OZ space port of close to a billion dollars worth of equipment and sabotaged another couple billion," Trowa deadpanned.

"Hey, if I recall correctly, you were right there with me helping me steal all that equipment."

"You're point?"

Harry couldn't help but start snickering at that point over the silliness of them nitpicking on which of them were actually responsible for Harry's new life as a not-so-petty-thief. The knowledge that they'd pulled off the heist without any mishaps only made Harry laugh louder as the pent up stress he'd been feeling since the start of the mission melted away. Knowing they all made it out without any one getting hurt and without getting caught left him feeling giddy as his laughter took on a slightly hysterical edge. Eventually, Harry crashed hard as the adrenalin that had carried him through the night's activities wore off and he slumped against Trowa as he fell asleep.

In the end, stealing the mobile suits, space shuttle, and spacesuits was a cake walk compared to what needed to be done once they'd hauled their loot home. The mobile suits needed to be repaired, warded, and upgraded, the spacesuits needed to be cleaned, checked for damage, and warded against Harry's magic, and the space shuttle needed to be repaired, warded, and refitted magically in order to transport the mobile suits.

Harry was run ragged during that time as he siphoned off pint after pint of blood for the warding, revised the ward scheme to function with the spacesuits (to better protect the wearer from the harsh conditions of space), and altered the ward scheme further so that it could be used to ward the shuttle (in order to make certain the wards would hold up under the stress and heat caused when entering and existing the atmosphere). The others didn't have an easy time of things either as they carved thousands of runes, worked tirelessly to repair the new mobile suits and the shuttle, and scrambled about gathering any other supplies and equipment they would potentially need while out in space.

As each pilot customized their new mobile suits to better fit their individual strengths, Harry conspired with the Maganacs over the details added to the new paint jobs and the new names for each of the suits. All of them, like Dogstar, were painted black with gold and silver highlights with subtle differences that allowed them to be easily told apart; if you knew what to look for. To start with, the optic panels and external lights on each suit were a different color; Heero's were white, Duo's were red, Trowa's were orange, Quatre's were blue, and Wufei's were purple. The silver and gold highlights added to each suit formed what looked like a star when seen from a distance with each star taking on a slightly different pattern when the suit converted to flight mode.

The names designated for each suit kept to the theme that was started with Harry's; each of them having 'star' as part of the name. Heero's was called Northstar; Harry seeing the formerly cold teen as his guiding light since Heero had led Harry to the other pilots and ultimately his new family (even if it had taken him a long time to realize that). Duo's new suit was dubbed Deathstar since Harry knew the name would appeal to the self-named shinigami and the reference to the movie Star Wars amused Harry even though the pilots never quite got the reference.

Trowa's was the hardest one for Harry to name but in the end he settled on Superstar since Trowa played a variety of roles in Harry's life and he was a talented performer both inside and outside of the ring. Quatre's new suit became Rockstar, the empathic pilot the one that gave them all strength and in some ways held them together despite their differences (the name also a reference to Quatre's love of music). Finally, Wufei's new suit was given the name Dragonstar as Harry now likened the quietest of the pilots to a sleeping dragon that inspired fear in his enemies when roused into battle once he'd gotten to know the teen better (instead of the proud hippogriff he'd seen him as before).

The number designations for the pilots and their new suits remained the same as for their Gundams. There was some debate over the number that Harry's suit should be given, a few thinking his should be Zero-Zero and the others wanting to give him the number Zero-Six. Harry shook his head and told them that his number designation was One-Three which confused the five pilots until Harry explained that it was a magically significant number associated with luck (most often bad luck much like his godfather's animagus form that was often mistaken for a grim which is who his suit was named after). Zero-Seven was also a magically powerful number but Harry didn't feel comfortable using such a significant number; he thought it too arrogant but couldn't say where the feeling came from.

Along with the new number designation, Harry was instructed to pick out a code name. He considered using the name Myrddin Emrys in reference to the famed wizard most knew as Merlin but again Harry felt that would be far too arrogant. Eventually, he settled on the name Taliesin Bard*; a rather famous bard of Welsh origin that was also a well known wizard (in the magical world) and considered by some to be a seer and a prophet. His reasoning for choosing that name stemmed from the legend that baby Taliesin had been pulled from a weir by Elffin ap Gwyddno who later adopted the babe.

Like the Taliesin of legend, Harry's new life had started when he emerged from the water (or maybe when he pulled Heero from the sea) though there were obvious differences in their situations it was close enough that it struck a chord with Harry and at the same time offered him a small connection to his lost heritage.

Outside of the estate, people were beginning to sit up and take notice of the large scale thefts that were occurring on OZ facilities around the globe. The space port being merely the first of many bases hit as the Gundam pilots plus Harry stole food, medical equipment, munitions, explosives, firearms, tools, survival equipment, and blueprints for all of the former Alliance space facilities that OZ had taken over (including satellites, spaceships, and space stations). OZ officials were convinced that the culprits were Alliance rebels (led by one Major Sally Po) that were scattered across the globe.

Zechs Merquise was one of the few individuals who did not believe the rebels were responsible for the large scale thefts; if only because the rebels tended to leave a large swath of destruction in their wake when they struck. Zechs, in fact, quickly linked the mysteriously vanishing equipment and supplies with one child's uncanny ability to seemingly obtain equipment and supplies from out of thin air. Once he had made that connection, he quickly gathered a complete list of everything that had been stolen to date and easily deduced that the one or ones responsible were looking to enter space.

Knowing the child pilot he sought was linked with the Gundams and that the Gundams were currently being denounced by the Colonies led Zechs to the theory that the Gundams were looking to retaliate either against the Colonies or against OZ; possibly both. The insatiable curiosity that drove him to understand what motivated the child and the inexplicable need he felt to protect the child at the same time saw Zechs making his own preparations to head out into space.

Harry in the mean time continued to push himself to the limits, completely unaware that his strange stalker intended to follow him into space. If not for the vast stores of potions that Sirius had meticulously collected and stored Harry probably would have never survived the three weeks it took to get everything ready. A small part of Harry worried over the number of potions he'd gone through since stumbling into the pilots but he ignored it because he still had a decent supply remaining (Sirius had raided the Hogwarts Infirmary and Snape's potion stores in addition to what the elves had taken from other sources upon his orders).

By the time he'd sealed the last rune with his blood and cast the final protective spell on the space shuttle, Harry was physically, mentally, and magically exhausted. When Heero finally got a good look at how worn down Harry was, he bustled the shorter teen off to bed and ordered him to rest for two days while the rest of them finished packing their supplies and equipment for the trip. Harry didn't even have the strength to protest being treated like a kid; he simply fell into bed and slept for thirty-six hours straight.

The long nap went a long way towards restoring Harry's health and he moved with renewed energy once he was allowed out of bed. He was also radiating nervous anticipation and barely restrained excitement as the day of their departure quickly drew near. The night before their scheduled pre-dawn flight out of the atmosphere found Harry standing out in the middle of the courtyard staring up at the stars with Seth coiled loosely around his neck.

"Everything alright, Harry?" Heero inquired when he stumbled across the young wizard unexpectedly after making a last minute check of their supplies.

"Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking."

"About what?"

"Stars and space; did you know that man had barely begun to explore space where I came from?"

"I remember you were completely shocked, surprised, and more than a little skeptical to find out that there were millions of people living out in space when I first mentioned the Colonies."

"Space travel was still pretty much nothing but science fiction to me back then so the concept that people had been living in space for two hundred years was startling. No less strange than giant robots that fell from the sky," Harry replied dryly before he gave a snort of amusement and looked away from the stars to meet Heero's gaze. "You know what's ironic?"

"What?"

"The falling star I thought I wished on that day was actually you entering the atmosphere in Wing. I didn't even realize it until Duo and Quatre had me going over the procedures for entering and exiting the atmosphere last week. I wished on a Gundam for a purpose and the fates sent me the pilot of the Gundam I wished upon."

"Do you have any regrets?"

"A few here and there but mostly I just wish I could tell my godfather how much I love him and let him know that I forgive him for sending me away."

"I'm certain he already knows."

"Maybe…"

* * *

**Notes:**

*Taliesin – the story of Taliesin is a little too complex to summarize here and I recommend checking out Wikipedia if you want to know more about him and the legends that surround him. The little info I gave in the story is accurate based upon that same information though extremely watered down with little detail; obviously. I know some have believed that Taliesin and Merlin were in some way related or possibly one and the same but I couldn't say whether or not there is any truth in that.

Personally I've always liked the name and the legend and I thought it would be nice to use a name that I've only seen appear once in an HP FanFiction before. I used artistic license to call him a wizard and a seer though; tucking him into the HP universe much like JKR tucked Merlin, Flamel, and a bunch of other historical or mythological figures into her world. Oh, and the name Bard was a not quite random last name I picked out of a hat since the Taliesin of history was a bard by occupation; not because that was historically his last name.

* * *

**AN:** _Short chapter when compared to the last two but there was quite a bit going on. We see more of Harry's maturity and we see his lessons moving up to the next level with the pilots acknowledging his skills in gifting him with the Taurus Suit that he'd warded. Part of that had to do with the fact that he'd already been linked to the Gundams due to his own actions during the ambush and allowing him to take a bigger role couldn't possibly paint a larger target on his back than the one he already had. For now, our boys are headed out to space to wreck havoc._

_We also see Une being finally sent into space. The reason she wasn't sent directly at the end of the ambush was because her ruthlessness was deemed necessary due to the fallout of the survival of the delegates from the New Edwards Base sequence and the lack of progress OZ had in subjugating the rest of the world because of that. The delay could be viewed as directly being a result of Harry's presence as the ripples are finally getting large enough to be seen. _

_One question… what is Une's first name? All of the research I did led me to believe that her first name was Lady instead of Lady being some kind of polite title she was given; hence the reason why I've called her Lady Une instead of Colonel or whatever her military title is (can't remember it off the top of my head). Even after watching the Anime again I couldn't determine anything different than what I'd gotten from the Wiki site._

_Stalker boy… gotta love Zechs' obsession. He was obsessed with Heero in canon but only because of Heero's status as the pilot of Wing; which Harry supplanted here through a fluke because of his relationship with all five pilots. We'll get a look at things from Zechs' point of view around chapter twenty-five so I won't say anything more about it here._

_Those of you who are hoping for a Harry/Cathy pairing… I'll apologize now. I considered it but she met him when he looked like an eight year old and she set herself up as a mother/big sister during his time at the circus. He is close to her though and she'll remain close to him and to the other pilots; even if she isn't there in all of their adventures._

_Only one more thing to address and then I'll let you go; Harry's lack of hexing for being called kid/kiddo after all of his earlier protests and irritation. I briefly hinted at it in this chapter and it gets addressed in more detail later but because its come up in a review or two and in a few PMs I thought I'd comment here. Harry has begun to see kid/kiddo as a term of affection rather than the insult he originally believed it to be; previously equating it to being called boy or freak – which was why he protested previously. And while Duo promised not to call him kiddo again, Duo has already admitted that calling everyone nicknames as a long ingrained habit and he just can't help himself. Plus he does like to push people's buttons just to get a reaction out of them. =)_

_Anyway, I've started answering reviews and will try to get to the rest of them soon and keep my fingers crossed that I don't accidentally skip anyone. Next chapter will be up Tuesday or Wednesday and Haunted will have another chapter up tomorrow. Chaos is being edited and cleaned up so I can fix a few issues with the sequel, and I'm almost finished with cleaning up the first chapter of Wizard's World Year 2 so I can start posting that. I also have to finish the third part of the Discovering series so I can get that posted. Those three series will be my focus once I've finished with Haunted and this story. ~ Jenn_


	23. Otherworldly Adventures

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 22: Otherworldly Adventures

Harry slid into his seat, adjusted Seth's position around his shoulders, and buckled his seat belt before he nervously pulled at the slightly bulky space suit he had on over his clothes. He also reached up to confirm that he had all four of his trunks safely disillusioned on the leather cord around his neck as he bit his lip and craned around to watch the other five teens making last minute preparations. Unseen, hidden inside of their secret compartment, his wings rustled nervously as the moment they'd been working towards finally arrived; they were heading into space.

Duo and Heero would be piloting the shuttle; the two of them the best flyers out of their small group. The other three would take turns relieving the two of them as needed once they got out into space. They even planned on tossing Harry behind the controls once they cleared the atmosphere in order to allow him to get used to the slight differences between flying through Earth's atmosphere and space.

"Feeling excited?" Trowa asked with a small grin as the green eyed pilot caught sight Harry's fidgeting.

"And a little nervous," Harry added after nodding in agreement and flashed him a small smile as he caught the helmet that Heero tossed to him on his way to the cockpit. He absently ran his fingers over the lettering proclaiming his code name and suit name on the back of the helmet as he asked the one question that had been hovering at the back of mind since his brothers had first decided to return to space. "What's it like out there?"

"It's quite unlike anything you've ever experienced," Quatre replied fondly. "It's beautiful and intimidating all at the same time; it steals your breath and sets your heart to pounding because it makes you feel so small even as it shows you all of the hidden wonders that can't be seen from Earth."

"And the Colonies? What are they like?"

"Not much different than Earth, though I suppose there are those that consider them to be pale copies when compared to Earth. Even the people are much the same; some good, some bad, and the rest falling some where in between."

"_If ya haven't done so yet, now would be da time ta buckle yourselves inta your seat as we're set ta lift off in T minus one minute,_" Duo announced over the intercom.

Harry checked his seat belt, checked on Seth, and turned his head to the side to glue his eyes to the window. He felt his nerve endings tingle as the shuttle started to rattle when engines of the rocket to which the shuttle was anchored were engaged and his breath hitched in anticipation. A minute later, the rocket shot straight up into the air and the ground below sharply disappeared as the shuttle was carried upwards. When they reached the stratosphere, the shuttle's engines roared to life as the two buster rockets and the external fuel tank broke away causing the entire shuttle to shake and Harry's breath caught in his throat he stared down at the surface of the earth far below.

Just seconds later the view was distorted by the air around the shuttle shimmering with the heat generated from the friction of the shuttle exiting the atmosphere at the same as he felt something inside of him being stretched tautly. Just as they broke free of the Earth's gravity, Harry felt something snap inside of him and he gasped in response to the sudden flash of pain before his eyes caught sight of the earth and he gasped again in wonder.

"It's beautiful," Harry breathed as he watched the Earth slowly getting smaller.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Quatre inquired as he leaned forward in concern. "It felt like you were in pain there for a brief moment."

"Huh? Oh… There was a brief moment when it felt like I was being stretched tight or rather like my magic was being pulled in two different directions before it snapped back into place suddenly and it stung unexpectedly; like snapping a rubber band against your arm."

"So… was that a yes or a no?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Trowa," Harry replied in exasperation with a roll of his eyes. "In fact I feel freer… lighter… as if someone had removed a large weight from my back… or maybe my soul. Is that because we're no longer being affected by gravity?"

"I imagine that would be part of it. There's nothing wrong with your magic is there?"

"No… it feels a little… I don't know… fuller? Less drained? But otherwise it feels pretty much as it usually does."

"Glad to hear that; I wouldn't want you to have trouble taking care of yourself because your magic was on the fritz," Trowa solemnly declared.

"_Hey, kiddo, why don't ya come up here and try your hand at flyin' the shuttle for a bit?_"

Harry eagerly unbuckled his seat belt at the prospect of flying the shuttle only to yelp when he floated out of the seat unexpectedly. Trowa laughed at him before grabbing Harry by the foot and giving him a gentle push in the direction of the cockpit.

"Relax, it's just like swimming," Trowa quipped with a grin.

"I don't know how to swim!" Harry growled back as he grabbed onto the nearest seat to halt his forward momentum.

Heero opened the door to the cockpit at the same time and chuckled at the sight of Harry hanging upside down clinging to the seat; his thoughts centering on the times Harry had hung him upside down with his magic. Harry glared at the pilot as he was pulled into the cockpit by the foot, Heero using the strategically placed hand grips to prevent him from ending up in the same predicament as Harry.

"Enjoyin' da view?" Duo asked cheekily as he too laughed when he caught sight of Harry.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to moving around in zero-gravity soon enough," Heero assured Harry as he finally took pity on the shorter teen and flipped him right side up and pushed him down into the co-pilot's chair.

Harry wasted no time in buckling himself into the seat before he reached towards the flight controls, eager to learn how to pilot the shuttle only to freeze when their shuttle was hailed by the pilot of another craft. He began trembling as he recognized that voice and let out a near whimper before he shook his head and growled as he stripped off his glove and reached out to activate the invisibility booster and silencing switch so they could escape. Heero dropped a hand on Harry's head while Duo engaged the thrusters and turned the shuttle towards their first destination; no one speaking as Zechs Merquise cursed over the connection before cutting out.

"That was unexpected," Duo stated nearly a half an hour later when they were certain they weren't being followed.

"Not really, Merquise isn't a stupid man," Heero countered as he moved around to the side of the chair so he could study Harry's profile while Harry simply stared at the panel in front of him; his hand still pressing on both switches. "You can let go now, Harry."

"Why? Why is he so determined to follow me? And how; how did he know?"

"I can't answer your first question because I don't know what the man is thinking but as for the second one; he probably put together the clues based upon what we stole from the bases and took a wild guess that you were somehow involved. He might take our disappearing act as proof of your presence out here but space is infinitely larger than Earth; we won't be any easier for him to find here than you were on Earth."

"So… drama aside; how are ya likin' your first foray inta space?" Duo asked to get Harry's mind off of Zechs.

"It's… different," Harry replied slowly as he slowly withdrew his hands and lifted his eyes to stare out of the windows. "I'd seen pictures of what Earth looked like from space before but seeing it in person is… so much more powerful. Although… I'm not sure I like floundering about out of control."

"Yeah, that hangin' about upside down and havin' no way of gettin' back ta your feet can be a real drag," Duo deadpanned.

Harry gave a half-hearted smile at Duo's not so subtle dig at the times he'd been flipped upside down by Harry using his magic. Harry spent another twenty minutes just gazing out at the endless sea of black broken up by the occasional asteroid, gas pocket, or planet (all thoughts of flying the shuttle drowned out by the view). He was then forcefully (if playfully) ejected from the cockpit by Duo who sent him floating across the passenger bay before ordering him to get used to moving about in zero-gravity. He ended up getting stuck near the ceiling as he floundered about a bit until Wufei took pity on him and pulled him down to where he could grab the seats.

The next four hours saw Harry learning how to use the various furniture and the walls to gently push himself in the direction he wanted to go in. He quickly learned that the quickest way to lose control of his movements was to panic and he soon gained an intimate understanding of the phrase; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Once he felt comfortable moving around by himself, Wufei instructed him to take the top half of his suit off and remove his over shirt to free his wings so that he could learn how they would affect his movements while in zero-gravity.

Harry was not impressed when his tentative control was completely striped from him by the constant fluttering his wings seemed to do in response to his emotions. He at least had some entertainment in the form of watching Seth attempt to slither through the air; the snake complaining loudly the entire time as he flipped and flopped like a fish out of water. Harry actually learned how to better control his own movements (with his wings free) by helping Seth learn how to propel himself through the air.

Once he regained some control, Harry found that his wings actually gave him an advantage when moving through zero-gravity as he could use them to both start and stop his forward momentum. He was really starting to have fun flying about when he suddenly found himself laying belly down, half over the back of a seat as Duo engaged the artificial gravity without any warning. Harry wasn't exactly impressed. Neither was Seth.

As their small group headed towards their first destination, which happened to be the L4 Colony Cluster (Quatre's former home), they each spent a few hours running a systems check on their mobile suits as Harry unshrunk them in turns. Harry was the last one to spend time in his suit and he'd needed a co-pilot and two spotters outside of the shuttle with him since he had absolutely no experience in maneuvering the suit in space; unlike the rest of the pilots who'd grown up in the Colonies. The first time he went out, Heero hitched a ride inside of the suit with him while Trowa and Duo manned their own suits to give him a hand if he should manage to get himself into trouble.

The time Harry had spent learning how to propel himself through zero-gravity actually helped him maneuver the suit through space (which was one of the reasons why they'd not turned on the artificial gravity right away). Learning how to compensate for the recoil generated when using the beam pistols that had been created for his suit took a little longer. On the other hand, adjusting to close combat in space was fairly easy as it was very similar to learning how to use his wings to hover prior to leaving Earth. Harry's favorite part of the training was when he was allowed to transform the suit into flight mode and instructed to simply fly.

Heero nearly regretted volunteering to be Harry's co-pilot after some of the more outrageous stunts that Harry pulled over the next hour. With no gravitational force pulling against the suit, Harry was able to pull off moves that would have seen him crashing spectacularly if he'd tried them while on earth. If not for the magical enhancements and wards that Harry had placed on the suit he'd probably have injured himself and Heero pulling off some of the stunts he did.

All of the long, hard hours of Quidditch practice that Harry had put in under the maniacal and fanatical Oliver Wood really paid off as he incorporated some of the more insane broom maneuvers into the flight pattern of the suit while it was in flight mode. Harry didn't even have to think he just reacted instinctively as he pushed the suit to its limits and then some. The only reason Heero didn't order Harry to stop or end their test flight sooner was because Harry had laughed and crowed happily the entire time.

The first words out of Harry's mouth once they returned to the shuttle were to ask when he could go back out again. The first words out of Heero's mouth in reply were to tell Duo that he'd just been volunteered to be Harry's next co-pilot to the amusement of the others. Seth hadn't been very impressed with the stunts Harry had pulled (the snake having insisted on sticking beside the wizard) and if the cobra had eaten any time in the last three days he probably would have regurgitated his meal from the nauseating feats of speed and daring. The snake was something of a masochist though because he would never hesitate to join Harry in the suit each time the winged wizard went back out and in time would eventually grow immune to the disorientation and nausea Harry's stunts frequently imparted to his passengers.

Harry's next big adventure was a lesson in EVA or extravehicular activity. Trowa was the one who took him out this time with Wufei and Quatre both standing by in their mobile suits in case Harry slipped and went floating off. Once they were out of the shuttle, Harry had been transfixed by the sight of Mars in the distance and he'd just stood there and stared for nearly fifteen minutes. Harry's half whispered comment of, "Mars is bright, huh? Bet the centaurs never saw Mars quite like this before," earned him more than a few weird looks from the other pilots but they soon wrote it off as one of Harry's many odd quirks. His eyes had not drifted far from the red planet during the rest of the training session.

All too soon their shuttle was docking on the landing bay of L4 and Harry was inundated with curiosity and anxiety as the shuttle was swallowed by the enormous construct. When they were finally given clearance to disembark, Harry couldn't help but stare as he followed the others out of the shuttle. Harry was still trying to see everything at once when they were met by a rather stern looking man and a pleasant looking woman; both of whom somewhat reminded Harry of Quatre. Harry felt more than a little uncomfortable when he learned the man was Quatre's father (he wouldn't learn the woman was one of Quatre's twenty-nine sisters until a few days later).

"Hello, father," Quatre greeted with reserve and Harry immediately picked up on the tension radiating from the normally serene pilot.

"Quatre; I must say I was caught by surprise when the traffic controllers informed me that my wayward son was requesting permission to land. I did not expect you to willingly return after you ran off the way you did. I see you've brought a few friends back with you as well."

"Allow me to introduce everyone, father," Quatre stated as he pointedly ignored the thinly veiled accusations and reprimands. "Those standing beside me are Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, and Wufei Chang. And lastly, the one half hiding in the back is Taliesin Bard. Everyone, this gentleman is the head of Winner Corporation and my father, Zayeed Winner."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," Heero cordially murmured as he offered the man his hand.

The other pilots were quick to do the same while Harry had to be prompted to greet the man since he was far more interested in watching the various people going about their jobs and taking in the architecture. The man seemed to be caught off guard by Harry's startling mismatched eyes and rather shy and withdrawn nature since everyone else in the group seemed very outgoing and confident by contrast; making Harry stand out even further. It was also very easy for anyone to see that this was Harry's first trip to one of the Colonies due to the way he was constantly craning his neck in order to take in everything all at once.

"Taliesin, make certain don't use any magic unless you absolutely have to," Heero ordered softly as they began walking away from the shuttle. "We don't know how much of a chain reaction it would cause here and we don't want to draw any extra attention to our presence."

"I know, Heero," Harry replied absentmindedly as he stumbled to a stop at his first look of the city portion of the colony.

"Impressive view, is it not?" Zayeed inquired as he noted Harry's reaction; the man having been walking behind the rest of the group. "It appears that this is your first time out in space; what did your parents think of you traveling through space alone with no one but five teens for company?"

"I wouldn't know, my parents are dead and have been for many years," Harry answered absently, his voice barely above a whisper, as he glanced upwards to study the ceiling panels miles above the city. "I would still be living alone in a cave on the beach of a small deserted island or quite possibly be dead right now if not for Heero and the others taking me in. If it were possible to ask them; I think my parents would be happy that I found five exceptional young men to call my brothers."

Harry then turned his mismatched gaze to the man frowning down at him before glancing out over again at the city as he noted, "This place is unlike anything I imagined it would be."

"Oh? What did you imagine the colonies would look like?"

Harry laughed softly and shook his head without answering (his mind on the memories of the various sci-fi shows that Dudley had often enjoyed watching, which usually included an assortment of aliens and alien architecture) before he darted forward to catch up to the others who'd not immediately noticed that Harry had stopped or that Zayeed had been questioning him. Once Harry reached the others, he began firing questions at Quatre one after another; trying to learn everything he could about the colony the blonde had grown up in. That of course led to a hundred other questions about the colonies that the others had lived on or visited.

If Harry's wings had been visible they would have been have been sweeping back and forth in excitement as Harry allowed his curiosity to drive away any anxiety he had been feeling. His happy chatter also dispelled the earlier impression of him being shy and withdrawn; forcing Zayeed to re-examine his earlier assumption he didn't fit in with the rest of the teens.

They would spend a relatively peaceful week on L4, with Quatre and the pilots spending much of their time in meetings with Quatre's father and the Colony's administrative council while Quatre's sister, Doctor Iria Winner, kept an eye on Harry and took him on tours of the different portions of the colony. The young doctor had even taken Harry on a tour of the mining satellite anchored off the Colony that the Winner family owned. Iria had attempted to coerce Harry into getting a medical exam after learning he'd lived on his own for a period of time but Harry had quickly vanished (using his cloak) when she didn't seem to want to take no for an answer.

When she confronted Quatre about Harry's disappearing act later that night (on their third night on the colony), Quatre had (without going into any details) told her bluntly that Harry hadn't had an easy life, that he didn't really trust adults not to wish him harm, and that he had been shocked that Harry hadn't vanished sooner when he'd virtually been abandoned by the pilots the moment they arrived. Harry, of course, had simply been far too fascinated by the colony to care about his company right up until he felt intimidated by Iria's desire to give him a comprehensive physical; which he saw as an invasion of his privacy.

At the end of that first week, things took a turn for the worse when OZ turned up; specifically Lady Une. Harry had been idling about a park within the city when Heero and Trowa had suddenly appeared and called out to him; startling the wizard as he lazily lounged in the branches of a tree watching Seth explore the upper branches. The grim expressions on the two pilots' faces had Harry dropping down out of the tree in an instant with Seth quickly sliding down the trunk to join him.

"Put your cloak on over you and Trowa and follow me, Taliesin," Heero ordered while Trowa kept a look out. "Do you have all of your things with you or do we need to go back to the Winner's to get your stuff?"

"I have everything," Harry murmured as he disappeared beneath the cloak with Trowa; he'd long since stopped taking off the cord holding his trunks unless he needed to get into one of them (a habit that had been formed during the time he'd spent in the custody of OZ).

"Good, stay close and try not to make any noise."

Unseen, Harry was soon hustled onto their shuttle where he found Wufei in the pilot seat and no sign of Quatre or Duo in sight. He felt a considerable amount of trepidation when they immediately took off the moment they closed the door and he pulled off his cloak without waiting for permission only for the trepidation to turn to fear as he briefly glimpsed Lady Une stepping down out of another shuttle within the docking bay. Fury soon replaced the fear along with no little amount of hate as Harry recalled what that woman had intended to allow the three guards to do to him and it was only sheer luck that Harry didn't lose complete control of his magic.

He did, however, destroy both of the shirts he'd been wearing at the time when his wings ignited with flames not long after they cleared the bay doors, the disintegration of his spell work causing his wings, knives, and cards to fall free of their hidden pockets. Luckily he'd not been wearing his invisibility cloak at the time and Seth hadn't been hiding in the extra secret pocket as he usually did when Harry was walking about the colony (the snake having dropped down off of Harry in order to find a quiet place to nap).

It took both Trowa and Heero doing some fast talking to calm Harry down enough to douse the flames. Harry had then spent the next six hours perched on top of the back of one of the seats with his wings and arms wrapped around him and his legs and his face pressed to his knees. Worse than when confronted with Zechs at the start of the trip, coming so close to the woman who'd wanted nothing more than to break him had stirred a wealth of negative emotions within him. He'd known she was out in space but had thought the universe had been large enough that he'd never actually cross paths with her; foolish of him really. He probably wouldn't have had such an extreme reaction if he'd at least prepared himself for the possibility of running into her at some point.

After those six hours, Harry had slowly uncoiled and scowled; angry at himself for losing control of his emotions so easily. Growling, Harry lifted his leather cord of trunks from his neck, returned the one holding his library to full size, and stormed down inside. Once inside, he paused to stare at the seemingly endless rows of bookshelves filled with a wide assortment of magical and non-magical books before he approached the parchment that had been hung upon the wall next to the stairs leading out of the trunk.

The parchment was a rather simplistic directory that consisted of a complete list of the subjects into which all of the books fell and listed where to find that section of the library. There was no magically interactive list containing every single title of every single book that could be used to summon the desired books to his hand; though Harry had wished there was more than once. No, much like any normal library, Harry would have to scour the shelves for the section he needed and browse through books in order to find the one he needed unless he already knew the title of the book he was looking for (which in this case he didn't).

Harry ran his finger down the list of subjects and paused on one that was called Meditation and Mind Magics. Thinking that might be as good of place to start as any, Harry noted the row and shelf numbers associated with that branch of magic before he wandered off in the direction they were supposed to be found. He then spent close to two hours skimming through more than sixty books, looking for something that would help teach him how to better control his emotions.

He ended up selecting three different books; one on mediation called _How to Meditate; A Practical Guide_ by Kathleen McDonald, a book called _My Mind is My Fortress_ by Hank Skullman, and _Improving One's Mind; A Complex Guide to Mind Magics_ also by Hank Skullman.

Tucking the books beneath his arm, Harry climbed up out of his trunk and set them down on one of the seats before he switched over to his supply trunk to grab another pair of shirts to replace the ones he'd destroyed. He also grabbed a bunch of pillows and a sleeping bag before exiting, shrinking the trunk back to a more manageable size, and slipping the cord back over his neck. He then set about making himself a comfortable nest in which he could curl up and read before grabbing his books. Before he got lost in his reading material, Harry took a moment to put away his knives and cards that one of the pilots had kindly collected from the floor and vanished the remains of his ruined shirts.

"What are you planning, Taliesin?" Heero asked softly as he watched Harry bury himself in the middle of the pillow nest.

"I need to find a way to learn how to control my emotions; I'm sick of losing all reason or freezing in fear when faced with certain people and if not for you guys hustling me out of there I might have let loose enough accidental magic to shut down the entire colony; potentially killing the millions of innocents that live there. I can't afford to risk losing control like that; not out here in space where a power failure could mean instant death. That's why we spent so much damn time warding and spelling this shuttle and the suits before leaving Earth, after all."

"Do you really expect magic to solve that for you?" Trowa pointedly asked. "True control of one's emotions like you are speaking of takes years to obtain."

"There are ways for magic to help me do that and while it is not instant, it is effective according to what little I skimmed through while I was searching. I also picked up a book on meditation because I'm well aware that not even magic can provide instant fixes for everything," Harry dryly replied as he looked up at both pilots over the top of his glasses. "I wasn't searching for a quick fix anyway. Those have a tendency of unraveling at the worst possible moment in the most spectacular way with extremely negative results; at least according to my usual luck and past experience."

"Just wanted to make certain," Trowa stated with an unrepentant shrug.

Harry stuck his tongue out at his self-adopted brother before opening up the book on meditation, which only had about two hundred pages, and began reading. The first time he read through the book non-stop in order to get an idea of everything involved in learning to meditate before he flipped back to the beginning and began reading through each chapter very carefully, occasionally pausing in order to attempt some of the beginning exercises suggested by the author.

He was just starting on his third time through the book when he was dragged from his reading by Wufei in order to eat and take a break since he'd been studying for hours without realizing it. The four of them spent an hour playing cards (with a normal deck) after the meal to allow Harry's mind time to rest and reflect upon what he learned. Wufei, who'd been taught meditation growing up, quizzed Harry on what he'd learned, asked several questions, and offered small suggestions that helped Harry better understand what was involved in meditation.

The last thing Harry did before getting some sleep was to make a magical copy of the meditation book and use the transfer spell to absorb the entire book. He didn't use the spell thinking it would be a short cut to learning meditation; he used it so that he would be able to easily reference the material while teaching himself how to meditate in order to avoid having to constantly stop what he was doing to reference the actual book. He hadn't used the spell on the original book because he still wanted to have the book on hand for a reference in case he needed it.

Heero woke him up eight hours later and Harry went through his normal morning routine on autopilot as he reflected on everything he'd learned before resting. A freshly made cup of coffee and a warm breakfast was followed by two hours spent in his spacesuit outside of the shuttle practicing moving about in free-fall to make certain his control hadn't regressed after spending a week in the artificial gravity of the colony. Wufei then had him spend an hour going through his katas before allowing him to dive back into his books; this time reaching for one of the two Mind Magic books.

The concept of Mind Magic greatly intrigued Harry and he wondered if could have prevented the realistic visions he had had about what Voldemort was doing over the course of his fourth year if he'd been able to use Occlumency (the defensive form of Mind Magic) at the time. He also wondered if it would have helped him with his normal nightmares. After reading through the theory he knew having some skill in Occlumency would have made him even less susceptible to various forms of mind control and prevent other magicals from skimming through his memories. The latter something he suspected both Snape and Dumbledore had frequently done to him since there had been times when it seemed as if they knew exactly what he was thinking.

There were similarities between meditation and defensive Mind Magic but Mind Magic quickly outclassed meditation in every way as Harry's magic allowed him far more control over his own mind than simple mediation ever could. The first goal in learning to protect and defend his mind was to seek out what the book called his inner mind or mindscape. It took Harry two waking and sleeping cycles (the concept of day and night a little indistinct out in space where there was no true sunrise or sunset) to find his inner mind and when he did finally stumble across it he'd been so shocked at what he'd found he'd immediately fallen right back out with a startled gasp.

His mind had been a rather desolate stretch of land shrouded in shadows, smoke, and mist that looked as if it had been the battle ground for a long and bloody war. It had been frightening to see how damaged his mind was and there was no doubt his mind was damaged based upon what the book had described. Harry knew part of the damage came from past experiences while the rest of it was the end result of the numerous memory charms and mind control spells that Dumbledore and Snape had used on him. The numerous Unforgivables that had been used on him had left their mark as well; including the killing curse that Voldemort had used on him when he'd been barely out of infanthood.

Slipping back into his mindscape, Harry stared at the destruction around him and knew it wasn't going to be easy to fix and repair all of the damage. He also knew that there would be some things he couldn't fix; the damage done by the Unforgivables one of them. Harry spent a long time carefully climbing through his mind in order to survey the full extent of the damage before he stepped back out into reality. The three teens watching over him expressed concern as he looked rather shaken and pale but Harry didn't know how to explain just how badly damaged his mind was. Nor was he certain he wanted them to know.

After another three waking and sleeping cycles, which was just over two days, the group received a call from Duo stating that things were not looking good. Apparently most of the Colony's council had disregarded everything that the pilots had been telling them over the week their group had spent on the Colony and they were going to throw their lot in with OZ. Lady Une had blinded them with her empty promises of peace and Quatre's father had been voted out of his position as the Colony's leader. Quatre was worried that his father was going to do something drastic.

They were just getting back to the Colony, in order to provide support to Quatre, when the four of them literally ran into an agitated Zayeed Winner. Harry had taken one look at the man and just knew the man was going to do something reckless and that the end result would hurt Quatre. He wasn't certain how he knew but it didn't really matter because Harry refused to allow his brother to be hurt.

Zayeed had paused only briefly when he encountered the group before he brushed passed them and the moment his back was turned, Harry hit him with a discreet, low powered stunner to knock him out. Heero and Trowa had glanced sharply at Harry over that but quickly helped the short teen to hustle the now unconscious man into their shuttle (after making certain that they weren't being watched – their shuttle having been set down out of range of the security cameras by design) before they slipped back out of the Colony and cloaked the ship.

"What the hell was all of that about?" Heero demanded the moment they were safe from detection.

"He was about to pull a stupid Heero stunt," Harry replied as he lifted his chin defiantly and met Heero's slightly angry gaze with steely determination radiating in his blue and green eyes. "I will not allow him to foolishly throw his life away without any regard to how much such an act by him would hurt Quatre."

"How do you know he was going to do something stupid?" Trowa asked with a frown as he'd instantly picked up on Harry's familiar turn of phrase about a stupid Heero (one that Harry had once used in reference to Trowa's own desire to fight against Harry's capture by OZ).

"It was in his eyes; I could read the pain and desperation there," Harry answered as he dropped his glare. "It was the same look Heero had in his eyes the day he was going to detonate Wing and the look you had in your eyes when I was… you know. He should wake up soon, I didn't use much magic because I didn't want to be seen and I didn't want to fry anything."

"What do you expect to be able to do?" Wufei inquired.

"Talk some sense into him and help him if his ultimate goal is for the best; but mostly I just want to make certain he doesn't die a senseless death. Much like I did when you guys first wanted to run off into space."

All three teens had the grace to look sheepish over that remark as Harry smirked slightly before he pulled out his special deck of cards and settled back against the wall in one of the few open parts of the shuttle to practice his juggling. He'd only been practicing for about twenty minutes when Zayeed groaned and sat up. Harry glanced at the man and quickly plucked his cards out of the air and hid the deck as he waited for Zayeed to notice him and the others.

"What the hell did you do to me and where the hell are we?"

"I stopped you from doing something incredibly stupid and we are on our shuttle, cloaked just outside of the colony."

"I'm not the one who was doing something stupid! The council members are the ones who have taken leave of their senses in their decision to allow OZ to build weapons on my satellite. I refuse to allow them to use my resources to make war."

"Like I said, you were about to do something incredibly stupid and the ones who would have paid for it are your daughters and son," Harry repeated as he crossed his arms and glared at the man. "Did you even once think about how your children would feel if you got yourself killed because you acted rashly in the heat of the moment? Did you consider what would happen to them if the council decided to strip them of their holdings and their money because of whatever stunt you were about to pull? No… you did not."

"How dare you…!"

"I dare because Quatre is my brother in all but blood and I will do everything in my power to insure that no one, and I do mean no one, ever hurts him," Harry hissed vehemently as his eyes turned hard and cold. "Your rash actions would have hurt him far deeper than you could ever imagine because the pain of losing you before he even had a chance to repair the floundering relationship you two have would have cut far deeper than any knife. Do you have any idea of what grief and anguish like that would do to the mind of an empath like Quatre?"

"I… I have to do something… I refuse to allow them to use my satellite to build an army of mobile dolls that would be used to destroy other colonies or Earth."

"And do you have a plan?"

"I was going to remove the satellite from the colony."

"Which would have prompted the colony to retaliate and destroy both you and the satellite because if they could not use its resources than they certainly would not want to allow you to use them," Harry deduced with a huff as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh and you have a better idea?"

"Of course… I have five geniuses for brothers and they've been teaching me everything they know," Harry cheekily responded as he flashed a rather feral grin at the skeptical man. "I also have a few tricks up my sleeves."

"What tricks could a kid your age have that could possibly help in this situation?" Zayeed asked incredulously.

Harry glanced beyond Quatre's father to silently ask Heero and Trowa for their opinions and after a moment they shrugged. Harry then stood up and met Zayeed's eyes as he removed his wand from his sleeve and twirled it around his fingers before he settled it into his palm and transfigured a row of passenger seats into a trio of playful puppies that began play-fighting with one another. He then glanced back up at the man and answered, "More than you could possibly imagine because you've never meet another person quite like me."

Zayeed looked gob smacked as he took in the frolicking puppies that had tumbled across the isle until they bumped into the man's legs before they chased each other towards the cargo bay where they froze in mid-step and abruptly reverted back to seats. He glanced back at Harry for a moment before he turned around to see the smirking pilots. Once he got over his shock, the five of them spent the next four hours making plans with the occasional input from the two pilots still inside of the Colony.

By the time they'd finished ironing out the details, Zayeed held a newfound respect for both Harry and the pilots; including his somewhat estranged son.

* * *

**Notes:**

_How to Meditate; A Practical Guide_ by Kathleen McDonald is an actual book but not one that I have read so there will be not be any references made to any actual exercises that are inside of it.

Both _My Mind is My Fortress_ and _Improving One's Mind; A Complex Guide to Mind Magics_ by Hank Skullman are books that I made up strictly for this FanFiction and any resemblance to existing book titles is purely coincidence. I don't believe that I copied either the titles or the author name from another FanFic author but if I have I apologize and if provided the name of the author and the story in which they appeared I will gladly ask for permission to keep them and give credit where credit is due or change them if offense is taken.

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**AN:** _And Harry has left the earth. For those who are confused about what he experienced when leaving the atmosphere; please be patient, it will be explained later on. Next chapter will have some action in it and will be posted later this week. _

_I'd like to thank everyone that replied with information on Une's first name as it confirmed what I already knew; that there is no definitive answer. Ann/Anne has been used as her first name but according to some sources Anne is actually a variation of Une which itself was derived from the French feminine 'An' meaning 'one' according to the Gundam Wiki. So I'll be leaving her first name as 'Lady' for this story since Anne Une is a bit of a mouthful to say. ~ Jenn_


	24. Grand Theft… Satellite?

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 23: Grand Theft… Satellite?

Two waking and sleeping cycles after Harry had basically kidnapped Quatre's father, Duo and Quatre worked together to disrupt the security cameras watching over the various zones of space surrounding the colony and satellite while Harry charmed Dogstar, Dragonstar, and Northstar to have the appearance of the normal OZ Taurus suits. Their plan to steal the satellite involved placing the blame squarely back on OZ to make it look like the organization had simply been giving the Colony empty platitudes in order to get them to let their guard down so they could steal the satellite.

Zayeed had returned home and locked himself in his house; giving the appearance that he'd accepted the council's decision and was content to fade into the background while in truth he was waiting for them to come running to him after the satellite was 'stolen'. Une's spaceship had left the colony only sixteen hours before, leaving them with the promise that she'd be sending someone to 'deal' with the satellite upgrades so that they could start manufacturing the mobile dolls and other weapons. The plan they had come up with used her promise as a basis for OZ's supposed duplicity and would allow it to look like Une had planned to steal it all along since the suits would be seen 'dealing' with the satellite.

Zayeed had given the pilots everything they would need in order to release the satellite from its moorings along with a safe place to where it could be taken. Trowa would be picking up Quatre and Duo in the shuttle after the council approached Zayeed to help them save their precious satellite and the trio would be 'sent' after the thieves in order to 'retrieve' it but will instead help abscond with the satellite and haul it to a safe location to protect it from OZ.

"_Ready to go, Taliesin?_" Heero asked as he floated into the cargo bay as Harry resized the last mobile suit and anchored it to the open bay doors with a weak sticking charm to keep it from floating off; a task that had been made difficult due to the cumbersome spacesuit he was wearing and the need for skin to wand contact.

Harry nodded and gently launched himself towards the disguised Dogstar while Heero made his way to Northstar; Wufei having already climbed into Dragonstar before Harry had moved the suit out of the shuttle. Harry slipped into his seat and engaged his suit as he slipped into magical stealth mode before switching to flight mode. A glance up at his screen showed his brothers disappearing from his visual feed at the same time as two gray blips representing the cloaked suits appeared beside the green one that represented his own suit on the grid map that represented the section of space that they were currently occupying.

As one, the three of them slipped away from the shuttle in order to line up on their anticipated approach to the colony and the satellite they were about to jack. A sly, slightly feral grin passed over Harry's face as he felt his anticipation spike at the thought of landing yet another blow against OZ. Coiled around his neck inside of the suit, Seth hissed the tune of a familiar science-fiction movie's theme song that he'd learned from Harry and Harry couldn't help but hum along as he guided his suit through the vacuum of space with relative ease. An hour and a half later, a beep sounded and Harry glanced at grid map to find that they'd just crossed paths with a couple of OZ shuttle carrying a platoon of mobile dolls and OZ engineers heading towards L4 guarded by a dozen dolls and two pilots in suits.

"We've got company, Zero-One," Harry called over their comm. link.

"_Already saw them, One-Three; Zero-Five and I will engage the two piloted suits and commandeer the dolls while you shut down the shuttle's systems. Zero-Two, what's the ETA on the camera feed regarding sector eight-five?_"

"_Camera feeds for sector eight-five have been looped; you're clear ta engage da enemy,_" Duo announced a beat later.

"Roger that, Zero-One and Two; disabling shuttle now."

Harry pulled up hard and flipped his suit vertically in order to switch directions in an instant and barrel rolled in order to right himself before he spun back around in a wide circle so that he was hovering directly above the OZ shuttle. He then removed his right glove so he could pull his wand out of the holster that he'd moved to his right arm and inserted it into the special grove on the door of the cockpit that was linked to the magical amplifier he'd created and installed. Giving the wand a half turn, Harry locked it into place and began channeling his magic into both the wand and the diamond amplifier before casting an overpowered stunning spell that washed over the entire shuttle and shorted out the shuttle's systems instantly.

Harry then shifted his eyes to the grid map and watched as the red lights representing the OZ piloted suits blinked out simultaneously as Wufei and Heero demolished the two piloted suits while still in stealth mode so that the two pilots would not be able to report what had happened back to Une before they died. The twelve mobile dolls were then quickly taken over by Wufei who had created (with the help of Duo) a Trojan virus specifically designed to steal command of the mobile dolls; the only glitch was that they had to remove the pilot or computer in direct control of the dolls before they could take them over.

Once Wufei passed on confirmation that he'd gained control of the mobile dolls, Heero joined Harry to deal with the shuttle. Harry had Dogstar grab hold of the drifting spacecraft while Heero dropped out of stealth mode, exited his suit, and used the manual override to open the shuttle's cargo bay doors so he could slip inside and deal with the pilots and crew. Harry felt sick knowing his adopted brother would most likely kill the men and women inside of the shuttle instead of simply capturing them; that's if they hadn't died due to exposure the moment Harry disabled the shuttle. He shoved the feeling aside though as he focused on his task which was basically standing guard over Northstar and the shuttle while his brother was vulnerable inside the spacecraft dealing with the crew.

Twenty minutes later, Heero slipped out from the open bay, closed the bay door, and climbed back into his suit and Harry breathed a sigh of relief since it appeared that his brother was unharmed. Wufei had finished reprogramming the mobile dolls at the same time, having striped their on-board computers of all previous commands and inserting new orders into the unmanned suits. At Heero's signal, Harry released the shuttle and transformed Dogstar back into flight mode before repositioning his suit directly over the roof of the shuttle and casting a temporary sticking charm onto the shuttle's roof through the amplifier. He then settled Dogstar into place on the roof of the shuttle and spent a moment making certain that he wouldn't become separated from the shuttle once he began moving.

Just eight minutes later, Heero gave Duo the all clear to restore the Colony's external cameras back to real time as he and Wufei fell into formation with the mobile dolls while Harry invisibly maneuvered the shuttle. Two hours after the initial contact with the enemy, they were within hailing distance of the Colony and Heero used an electronic voice modifier to disguise his voice as he contacted the Colony and informed them that he was there for the satellite. They were soon given clearance and shifted their course to bring them directly to the satellite in question. Harry steered the commandeered shuttle into the docking station inside of the satellite and carefully canceled the sticking charm before he slipped invisibly out of the docking bay and performed a wide sweep around the satellite, checking for civilians working on the surface.

"This is One-Three, the satellite's surface is clear," Harry called over the secure line they were using.

"_Roger that, One-Three, prepare to drop stealth mode in order to connect the tow cables to the satellite,_" Wufei replied as he entered the heart of the satellite in order to clear all of the civilians from inside with the help of the commandeered dolls while Heero took up his station where the satellite connected to the colony. Ten minutes later, he announced, "_All stations inside have been shut off and the workers are in the process of being evacuated._"

"_Zero-Two here; preparin' ta loop cameras monitoring da satellite. Hold your positions for five minutes ta avoid breakin' your routine startin'… now,_" Duo stated from his position inside of the colony.

Harry slid his suit into his preassigned position hovering directly over the top of the rear of satellite. After six minutes had passed (all of them holding an extra minute just in case), Harry dropped down to the back side of the satellite, dropped out of stealth mode, and reverted to suit mode so he could grab hold of the satellite. He then slipped on the glove he'd removed earlier, checked to make certain his spacesuit was properly functioning, and shut down the life support system and artificial gravity systems inside Dogstar before he unbuckled his harness and opened the door.

Once outside the suit, he climbed hand over hand until he was hovering beside a hidden compartment in Dogstar's left leg and tapped it just shy of the exact center with the side of his fist to unlock the door. He then reached in and pulled out a thick cable that was about twenty feet long before closing the door to the compartment. Draping the cable over his shoulder, Harry turned towards the satellite and kicked off gently so he could propel himself across the short distance. He spent the next fifteen minutes attaching the long cable onto the satellite, taking care to make certain it was securely attached.

It was a task made extra difficult due to the tendency of the free end of the cable to float and flop around as Harry worked in combination with the bulky gloves he wore over his hands. Once it was in place, he drifted back to his suit and pulled out the next cable and set about hooking it into place; the process going a little smoother as he learned from his earlier mistakes. He repeated the process an additional eight times until all ten cables were firmly locked into place; the total procedure taking just over two hours.

"Tow cables have been affixed to the back of the satellite," Harry announced as he pulled himself back into his suit, shut the door to the cockpit, and buckled himself back into his chair before reengaging both the artificial gravity and the life support systems. "Moving forward to provide cover for decoupling sequence now, ETA is forty seconds."

"_Good job, One-Three; Zero-Two please disable the loops for the external cameras, reengage real time security surveillance, and disrupt internal cameras in thirty seconds,_" Heero ordered as he prepared to start the next phase of their plan.

"_Copy that, Zero-One._"

Inside of the satellite, Wufei had the dolls sweep the facility to make certain no civilians remained behind before he ordered six of them to take up six of the ten tow cables that Harry had attached to the satellite. He then moved up beside Heero as they waited for the all clear to be given so that they could start the decoupling sequence that held the satellite moored to the colony. The moment Duo confirmed that the exterior cameras were once again live while the internal cameras were now being looped; Heero exited his suit and began shutting the giant entrance doors leading into the heart of the colony before disengaging the clamps that fastened the satellite to the colony.

This was the most dangerous part of their plan since there was a chance that Heero could be killed before he could finish and return to the safety of his mobile suit. Harry slipped forward imperceptibly; it would be his job to protect Heero the moment the satellite pulled away from the colony while Wufei would be guarding him from inside so that the blue eyed pilot could finish without worrying about fighting off those that would attempt to stop him. Harry saw the yellow dots indicating a small group of old Alliance mobile suits had been deployed and Harry moved to intercept them. They pulled up sharply as Harry cut them off and immediately began yelling questions and commands at Harry.

"Stand down and return to your posts; we are following Lady Une's orders to commandeer this satellite facility as agreed by your council," Harry ordered after switching on the voice synthesizer to disguise his voice and switching on his external speakers. "I repeat, stand down and return to your posts. Failure to comply will result in immediate termination."

Harry nearly threw up as he cut the connection as the situation sharply reminding him of his brief stint in the hands of OZ, his mind and body both recoiling from his rather empty threat since he'd simply disable their suits and send them back towards the colony. There was still a chance one of them could die though and it bothered Harry to know if one of them did die he'd be responsible for the death of a potential innocent. Taking a deep breath in order to keep himself centered, Harry pulled out and began charging the beam rifle that his suit was originally equipped with in order to appear ready to carry out his threat. Two of the pilots complied, heading back towards the hanger they had exited from while the other four rushed forward intent on attacking Harry.

"Idiots," Harry muttered as he fired a warning shot that scattered the four suits.

They didn't take the hint though and Harry began systematically destroying the suits, taking care not to hit any of the systems that would cause the suits to explode and kill the pilots inside. It didn't take him long to remove all four suits from the fight as there'd been no cause for him to worry about taking any damage. He still felt more than a little sick over the thought that he'd attacked the Colony's defenders though; men and women who were not his enemies.

Shaking his head, knowing that if he really had been an OZ soldier than those four pilots would be dead, Harry pulled back away from the downed suits as reinforcements poured out of the hanger where the other two pilots had disappeared. He was pleased to note that they didn't seem to want to attack him as they retrieved their comrades instead. By that time, Heero had finished uncoupling the satellite, engaged the satellite's engines, and had returned to his suit before he and Wufei exited the satellite and headed around to the rear so they could each take up the tow cable in order to help tow the facility away from the colony.

Harry in the mean time continued to provide protection and to maintain a visible threat. Shortly after that, their magically altered shuttle that he knew would be carrying Duo, Trowa, and Quatre slipped out of the hanger and rapidly approached Harry, who charged his rifle yet again even as his mind screamed obscenities for even pretending to target his family.

"Halt! You will not be permitted to interfere with the transfer of this satellite; the council agreed to the terms of the treaty. Any attempt to prevent us from continuing our task will result in your immediate termination," Harry ordered tightly, his need to play his part warring with his emotions over threatening his brothers.

"_This is Zayeed Winner, head of the Winner Corporation which is the registered owner of the satellite you are attempting to remove. The agreement made by the council was for the satellite to be used to manufacture a specific list of equipment as provided by Ambassador Une; there was no agreement for said satellite to be removed from our Colony. That satellite is vital to the livelihood of this Colony and we insist that you replace it immediately and contact Ambassador Une so that we might discuss the apparent changes she made to the treaty that was signed by our council._"

"Irrelevant. My orders are to insure that the satellite is moved to its new location so that production can begin on the requisitioned equipment. It is no concern of mine whether you knew the facility would be relocated before you signed the treaty. If you have a problem with that you should contact Colonel Une yourself and take it up with her."

"_We will most assuredly speak with Ambassador Une regarding the duplicity; however in the mean time I demand that you return the satellite to its former position until this matter has been resolved._"

"I'm not authorized to negotiate with you nor am I at liberty to ignore my orders. Please remove yourselves from the vicinity or I shall be forced to fire. Any further attempts to prevent us from carrying out our jobs will be met with necessary force."

What followed was a spectacular twenty minute long mock battle that was choreographed to appear deadly real; during which half of Harry's attention was focused entirely on not vomit inside of his suit. Harry kept his showmanship to a minimum, avoiding showing off too many of his tricks or his suit's full capabilities and keeping more in line to a true Taurus's abilities. Even with that handicap it was plain to see that he was a talented pilot though.

He didn't know if it was Duo or Trowa piloting the shuttle but whoever it was had no problem keeping up with Harry's almost routine maneuvers but that was to be expected since all five pilots had helped train him in the first place. Whoever was manning the weapons on the shuttle knew what they were doing as well and more often than not Harry's off target attacks were met by the shuttle's retaliation and lit up the blackness of space with vivid explosions.

At the end of the battle, Harry appeared to finally take out the shuttle to those who'd been monitoring the space battle from the Colony. In truth, the moment the large explosion had washed over the shuttle the pilot had engaged the stealth mode (Harry having charged it with magic earlier) and slipped around to hide behind the satellite where Harry would later hook the shuttle up to the final set of tow cables. Harry slipped back into a defensive stance as he monitored both the satellite's progress and the Colony in front of him; his hands shaking as he fought to stay calm after the intense battle.

He would have preferred being assigned a different job during their heist but Harry's skills outside of the Taurus were still rather limited when it came to dealing with space technology which meant it would have been a greater risk to have him release the shuttle. He could have taken Wufei's place and controlled the dolls they'd commandeered but Wufei would have been the one to step in to finish Heero's job if Heero had been captured or killed by the Colony's defenders. And because he was so short he stood out even more than the rest of the teens which meant he'd have been noticed if he'd tried taking one of the tasks inside of the Colony.

Only the thought that he was helping get one over on OZ kept him from falling apart completely over the fact that he'd just been firing on those he considered family. Well, that and the fact that his brothers had been counting on him to perform the job they'd assigned him; the thought of disappointing them or appearing weak in their eyes helping him to push through the negative emotions that were assaulting him. Taking a couple of deep breaths, Harry calmed his inner turmoil as he reminded himself that the worst was over and that his brothers we re all fine. The sound of Seth's humming hisses as he sang yet another sci-fi theme song helped as well; the snake's antics never failing to bring a smile to Harry's face.

The thirty minutes was spent tensely monitoring the grid map and his immediate surroundings for any indication that the Colony was sending another squad of mobile suits to attack. Harry also kept a close eye on the satellite as it slowly pulled away from the Colony. Each time his eyes calculated the distance between satellite and Colony, he silently wished the manufacturing facility could be moved faster but he knew that without a larger ship they had no chance of throwing enough power into their engines to haul the thing any faster – even with the satellite's engines engaged.

"_There's been a change of plans, One-Three,_" Duo called over the radio out of the blue approximately forty-five minutes after the shuttle's apparent destruction. "_Da council has decided ta destroy da satellite instead of allowin' 'OZ' ta take it and Zero-Four has been unable ta talk them out of it. Do ya think it's possible for ya ta protect da satellite from their beam cannons and make it look like they destroyed it?_"

"How is Zero-Four trying to talk them out of destroying the satellite if Zero-Four was with you Zero-Two?" Harry inquired with a frown. "And I don't know if I could completely block a large scale attack from the Colony and put up the illusion barrier to make it look as if the satellite has been destroyed."

"_Zero-Four was ordered ta remain inside of da Colony by his commandin' officer, who took his place,_" Duo explained; his coded words telling Harry that Zayeed had purposefully switched places with Quatre for some reason. "_If you're gonna take a go at it, ya need ta be quick about it 'cause they won't wait much longer._"

"If I do manage to pull it off that would be it for me, Zero-Two; I'll be too exhausted to remain conscious once the illusion has run its course. That means we've only got one chance and if it doesn't work; you'll all need to scatter because I don't know if the suits or the space shuttle could withstand an explosion that large even with all of the protective wards I placed on them. There's also a chance they might fire their weapons a second time and I don't think even the blood wards could withstand a direct hit from even one canon."

"_Do what you can to protect the satellite and one of us will pick you up once the satellite is out of direct sight of the colony,_" Heero ordered after fifteen seconds of silence. "_Make certain you engage the stealth mode at some point in case you pass out so that you don't leave yourself vulnerable._"

"Understood, One-Three out," Harry replied as he pulled off both gloves so he could charge the stealth system with his left hand while he wrapped his right hand around the handle of his wand that was still sticking out of the suit's door in order to charge the amplifier once more.

Once he knew the stealth controls were charged, Harry replaced his left glove and moved his left hand to the flight controls while he continued to charge the amplifier with his magic. Inside of the special pocket of the button down shirt he wore, his wings snapped open and closed in agitation as his level of anxiety rose as he watched the beam cannons of the colony powering up. His hands began shaking again as he tried not to think of what would happen to him, or worse to his brothers, if the shield should fail since he was in the direct line of fire and the only thing standing between the Colony's weapons and the satellite (and therefore his brothers).

As he watched the tell-tale glow light up around the nozzles of the cannons signaling the weapons had been fired, Harry took a deep breath to steady his hands and sent a quick prayer to whatever gods were listening as he waited until the last possible second to cast the strongest shield he knew; "_Contego Maxima!_"

Without even bothering to watch the large, shimmering white shield snap into existence; Harry hit the thrusters on the left side of his suit just long enough to snap him around one hundred and eighty degrees in order to face the satellite. He then shot forward for several meters in order to put a bit of distance between his suit and his shield as he kept one eye on the monitor that showed the beams racing towards his shield. At the same time he began pulling forth the magic he would need to cast the misdirectional ward that would hide the satellite from the visual scanners of the colony.

He could have just disillusioned the satellite but that would have meant shutting its systems down completely, which would have been counter productive at that point. Just seconds before the attack landed on his shield, Harry stopped his forward momentum, cast the misdirectional ward, and engaged the magical stealth mode on his suit in order to hide his presence. He watched the barrier illusion form even as close to one hundred blasts from the beam cannons impacted upon his shield and exploded with enough force that the shockwave shredded the shield and slammed into Dogstar as it spread out.

Harry's hand slipped on his wand but didn't completely let go, which caused the barrier to waver momentarily before re-solidifying as Harry quickly corrected his grip on his wand and continued to steadily pour his magic into the barrier. His eyes flew to his internal system readout and cursed long and loud when he found that his life support system, his communication system, and his temperature control system had been taken out by the backlash of magic and heat from the explosion caused when the barrage of heavy fire impacted upon his shield and overwhelmed them.

Worse yet was the fact that the associated charms with the life support and temperature regulation had also been destabilized and they were on the verge of collapse; meaning he was soon going to be short on oxygen and it was going to get real cold, real soon. The outer casing on the back of Dogstar had also taken some minor heat damage because he'd been so close to the explosion; leaving his suit further crippled. Swallowing his frustration, Harry pulled his eyes from the systems readout and watched the blip that represented the satellite move steadily (if rather slowly) away from the colony on the map grid.

His luck continued to hold for five precious minutes before the two weakened charms unraveled and left him to the non-existent mercies of space. Icy coldness washed over Harry's right hand and up his arm as the warmth inside of his suit was rapidly sucked away by the frozen emptiness of space but he dared not let go of his wand (or release the barrier) until he knew the satellite was safely out of view (just another three minutes until it could slip behind an asteroid). Less than two minutes later, Harry was shivering and he could barely keep his eyes open as the cold, the rapidly dwindling oxygen supply (the spacesuit he was wearing only able to produce so much oxygen and heat and most of that was being leaked out through the unsealed right arm), and his exhaustion began pulling him under.

A sharp pain radiating out from his right ear brought Harry awake enough to register his surroundings as an angry hiss sounded in his ear; Seth had bitten down on his ear lobe, pinching the sensitive tissue between his upper and lower jaw without piercing the skin with his fangs, '_Sleep later, speaker; the cold is burning and we will both die if you don't do something now._'

'_Ss… sorry, Ss…Seth,_' Harry replied in parseltongue as he pulled his near frozen hand from his wand, dropping the barrier he could no longer maintain, and fumbled to put on his right glove.

Once the glove was snapped into place, the suit's internal temperature regulation system began functioning properly and the suit slowly began warming up. Harry was still feeling near frozen though, his right hand and arm all the way up to his elbow almost burning from the cold since it hadn't been properly protected like the rest of his body. If not for his magic, he would have been dead the instant the charms had failed. As it was, just mere seconds later, Harry was pulled down into his mindscape as his body fell unconscious.

"Lovely," Harry muttered as he stared around at the desolate landscape that was his mind. "At least the former blackness I always used to experience when unconscious was less depressing." A side effect of learning how to access his inner mind was that once he knew how to reach his mindscape he would never again lose complete consciousness when his body shut down. His magic would automatically pull his consciousness into his inner mind as a form of protection against mental intrusions during the period of physical vulnerability.

One of the reasons that learning Occlumency was highly regulated in magical Britain was because that same protective instinct that was triggered by physical distress or failure could lock a person inside of their mind permanently. Frank and Alice Longbottom were two prime examples of the dangers of knowing Occlumency as both former aurors had been permanently trapped within their mindscapes because of the severe nerve damage that their body had sustained due to prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus Curse. Though it was possible that there had been outside influence in their case since Dumbledore had been manipulating the Longbottom family right alongside the Potter family.

Sighing, Harry glanced around at the ruined mindscape that was his inner mind and headed over to the small section he'd previously been working to repair. Knowing there was really nothing else to do until his body recovered from the extreme exposure to the cold and his magical exhaustion, Harry picked up where he'd last left off on the much needed repairs.

* * *

Trowa picked himself up off the ground from where he'd landed when the shockwave from the huge explosion rocked the entire shuttle (and everything else with a hundred mile radius of the explosion). Dusting himself off, he returned to his seat and began running an internal systems check while he half listened to Duo checking in with the others to make certain everyone was alright (noting that a few of the minor systems had been damaged). In the co-pilot's seat, Zayeed Winner was staring off in the direction in which the explosion had taken place.

"Zero-One, Zero-Five, and One-Three, please report your current status."

"_Zero-One reporting; my current status is operational, minimal damage to the outer casing of my suit was sustained when Northstar bounced against the satellite from the force of the shockwave and my navigational systems have been shorted out but it will not interfere with the mission._"

"_Zero-Five confirming operational status; artificial gravity system and external scanners sustained minor damage but it will not pose any real problems. All others systems are fully functional._"

"Understood, Zero-One and Five; let us know if your status changes," Duo replied before disengaging the comm. unit to allow Taliesin to check in. He began frowning when the silence continued for far longer than it should have. "One-Three, please report your current status."

After another five minutes of radio silence passed, the tension in the shuttle rose and Duo and Trowa exchanged a worried glance as they recalled Harry's uncertainty about whether or not he'd be able to fully stop the attack. Apparently Heero was feeling the same tension as the blue-eyed pilot barked out a sharp order through the communication link.

"_One-Three you are being ordered to report your current status immediately._"

"Something's wrong," Trowa announced pensively as even Heero's order drew no response from Harry. "Taliesin would never disobey a direct order from Heero; not unless he was physically unable."

"_One-Three? Taliesin?_" Heero called out before a steady stream of curses flooded the comm. system.

"He still shows up on da scanner, it's most likely he is just unconscious; he did warn us that tryin' ta stop da attack and hide our escape would exhaust him," Duo optimistically pointed out as he stared at the gray blip on the grid map that represented the hidden Dogstar.

"_There's something wrong with Taliesin, I can feel his pain and it doesn't feel like simple exhaustion,_" Quatre interjected suddenly in a voice laced with pain.

"I'm going out there. I'll attach the cables to the shuttle before I make my way to where Taliesin is stranded," Trowa stated the moment Quatre finished speaking.

"Dogstar might be compromised," Duo stated quietly as he studiously avoided looking at the green eyed teen. "If both Dragonstar and Northstar sustained minor damage from da shockwave it is probable that Dogstar would have sustained some damage as well since he was far closer ta da explosion."

"All the more reason for me to get to him as quickly as possible," Trowa grimly tossed back as he grabbed his helmet and gloves before heading towards the cargo bay.

"_I'm securing a transport shuttle; the council has granted me diplomatic status in order to negotiate with the other Colonies for aide due to the loss of the satellite facility. They've also given me permission to search for survivors in the hopes that any of you survived the destruction of the shuttle._"

"Roger that, Zero-Four," Duo replied as Trowa paused in the doorway to hear the rest of the conversation. "Zero-Three will be headin' towards Dogstar once our shuttle has been connected ta da tow cables so that he can secure da suit for loadin' and determine One-Three's status. Please pick them up when ya reach their position." Duo turned to Trowa as he ended the transmission to add, "Take Superstar and Rockstar with ya, Trowa; so da two of ya will have alternate transport in case Harry unconsciously releases any of his magic while ya are on da non-warded shuttle."

Trowa nodded but didn't bother to reply as he turned away from the cockpit, jammed on his helmet, and secured it in place before slipping on the gloves. He stepped into the pressurized chamber separating the passenger section of the shuttle from the cargo bay, shut the door behind him, and grabbed two of the jet packs that they had stored there and immediately slipped one on before attaching the second one to his suit with a thin cable so he could fit it to Harry's spacesuit in case they had to abandon Dogstar. Next he released the restraints holding his and Quatre's shrunken Taurus suits in place and clipped them onto separate cables and waited for the green light that would indicate it was safe for him to enter the open cargo bay. He felt impatience bubbling up inside of him as he watched the red light and waited for it to turn green with impatience.

"_Don't bother worrying about securing the shuttle to the satellite, Zero-Three,_" Heero declared as Trowa opened the door to the cargo bay and propelled himself towards the open bay doors the moment the light turned green. "_I will take care of it myself so that you are free to help One-Three without wasting any more time._"

"Understood," Trowa barked sharply as he fired up the thrusters on the jet-pack and quickly propelled himself up out of the shuttle's cargo bay and headed towards where he knew Harry's last position had been according to the grid map. "Zero-Two I'm going to need you to guide me to him verbally as I'm flying blind out here and I don't want to take a chance on passing him by mistake."

"_He is currently sittin' approximately sixty-two miles out from da colony three points shy of twelve o'clock based upon your current position._"

With Duo providing verbal corrections on his course every few minutes, Trowa sped off towards the temperamental pint-sized teen that he had come to consider his little brother. Worry ate at him but he didn't allow that worry to cloud his mind because any delay or mistake could potentially put his brother at risk. He saw a shuttle exiting one of the colony's various hangers and hoped that it was Quatre piloting the ship and not one of the colonists. Confirmation that it was indeed his fellow Gundam pilot manning the shuttle came a minute later through his comm. link at the same time he made contact with the unseen suit.

"_Zero-Three this is Zero-Four, please confirm when you have successfully made contact with Dogstar._"

Trowa ignored the request for a moment as he used the limited scanners on his spacesuit to perform an initial scan on the invisible suit, when the scan finished his heart rose up into the back of his throat as he read through the results. When he finally managed to give Quatre a response, his voice cracked under the weight of his emotions, "Contact has been made; initial scans indicate extensive damage to several internal systems including both the life support and temperature control systems. Scanner has been unable to pick up any signs of life."

"_He's not gone, I can still feel him,_" Quatre countered after a long minute of silence had passed. "_I'm maneuvering in below your position now; please prepare to guide Dogstar into the cargo bay._"

Trowa sighed in relief as he released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding over the welcome news that his scan hadn't meant what he thought it meant. He watched Quatre maneuver the shuttle into place below him as the shuttle bay doors began opening. Keeping one hand on the suit, Trowa worked his way up to the head of the mobile suit in order to shift it horizontal so that it would be easier to maneuver the invisible machine into the bay without causing damage to either the suit (not that that would be all that easy with the protective spells in place) or the shuttle.

Twenty minutes later, Trowa grabbed a coil of nylon ropes from the supplies that were secured to the shuttle's walls after securing the shrunken suits and both jet-packs on the clamps fused to the wall (to prevent them from floating away). He then he waited impatiently for the cargo bay doors to close all the way so he could activate the bay's life support and artificial gravity systems so he pull Harry out of the suit and get him the medical care he undoubtedly needed.

The artificial gravity had barely taken effect before Trowa was scrambling over the unseen surface of the suit towards where he knew the cockpit door should be sitting. Once he found the hidden catch to open the door, Trowa hesitated for a brief second before he pulled open the door and cursed as he saw the thick layer of hoarfrost covering everything inside of the suit as what little oxygen that had been trapped inside the suit when the temperature regulation system (and charm) failed, froze. The sight of Harry trapped beneath an untouched layer of the ice crystals made it difficult for Trowa to swallow as he dropped down inside the cockpit and began breaking apart the ice that had grown over Harry's harness.

He soon had Harry free of the harness and he attached the rope around Harry's chest beneath his armpits before climbing out of the cockpit so he could haul Harry out. He then shifted the unresponsive teen into his arms and carefully made his way to the edge of the suit intending to use the rope to lower him to the floor and found Quatre's older sister watching him. He ordered her to slip on a pair of protect gloves before lowering Harry down into her arms and waited for her to stand back before he jumped down from the still invisible suit. Once on the floor, Trowa took Harry back and carried him up into the passenger section and laid him down on the floor.

Trowa then pulled his helmet off so he could clearly see what he was doing before he proceeded to strip Harry out of his ice covered suit. Iria flinched back and let out a short scream when Seth popped out from beneath the neck of the suit when Trowa removed Harry's helmet (the older woman having never seen the cobra previously). The snake flared his hood sluggishly and hissed out a weak warning before seemingly recognizing Trowa as it immediately (if slowly) coiled around Trowa's arm and worked his way up to the neck of the suit and the green eyed pilot shivered when the snake's unnaturally chilled body slipped beneath his shirt seeking his body heat.

As the snake settled itself down around his waist, Trowa returned to pulling off Harry's suit; his eyes lingering on Harry's extremely pale complexion and purplish blue lips. When he removed the glove and sleeve of the spacesuit from Harry's right hand he cursed when he took in the bluish-white tint and the scattering of raw, red sores that reached from the tips of Harry's fingers and disappeared beneath the edge of his shirt sleeve (extending all the way up to his elbow through he didn't know it yet).

"He's suffering from hypothermia and frostbite," Iria softly stated as she moved up and reached out to pull Harry's outer shirt off. "We'll need to warm him up both quickly and gradually so as not to send him into shock. The best way to do that is through sharing body heat through skin to skin contact."

"I'll undress him in a bit," Trowa softly stated as he stopped her from unknowingly releasing Harry's wings. "If you can trade places with Quatre; I'll need his help."

"I'm a doctor, I think I am far more qualified to handle this than you are and the kid hasn't got anything I haven't seen before," Iria snapped out with a frown.

"I'm well aware of your credentials, doctor, but I've been personally overseeing Harry's health since he came to be in our care and I'm not about to pass him off to someone else now," Trowa countered stubbornly. "Trust me… it is best that you allow Quatre and I to deal with him right now because if Taliesin wakes up in a state of partial undress in front of a virtual stranger he's going to panic and if that happens it won't be pretty." _And I seriously doubt you've ever come across anyone quite like our little brother,_ Trowa finished in his mind as his thoughts immediately went to Harry's wings.

Trowa watched Iria stalk off in frustration and sighed in relief because he hadn't seriously thought that she was going to listen to him there for a moment. Five minutes later, Quatre joined him looking as if he'd just had his ears blistered from an angry verbal rebuke which Trowa suspected might have indeed happened.

"Can you get into Dogstar and raid his supply cupboards to find that emergency potions kit he put together in the event that he needed immediate medical help and couldn't access his trunks? Make certain you put on at least your gloves before you climb up on the suit; there was hoarfrost in the cockpit when I finally pried the door open. I also need you to gather up as many blankets and pillows as you can carry as well as grab two sleeping bags from the shuttle's stores."

"I'll be back as soon as I can with everything."

Trowa checked Harry's vitals before lying down beside him and pulling him close to offer a small measure of warmth while he waited for Quatre to return. The moment he heard footsteps approaching, Trowa sat up and picked Harry up to set him in the nearest chair before he began putting together a makeshift bed. He started by spreading the pillows out on the floor to create a buffer between the floor and the bed, next he put down one of the sleeping bags, and then spread three of the blankets over top of it.

Trowa then transferred Harry from the chair into the center of the blankets and, with Quatre's help, striped him out of his pants before cutting away Harry's undershirt without taking off the over shirt in order to avoid his wings getting in the way. Another three blankets were then settled over-top of Harry before the second sleeping bag was spread on top. Lastly, Trowa zipped the two sleeping bags together so that none of the covers would get knocked off accidentally and instructed Quatre to stripe down to his boxers and crawl in beside Harry.

Trowa then turned his attention to the box of potions and pulled out the guide that Harry had written out with detailed instructions for each and every one of the meticulously labeled potions inside. It took him a few minutes of careful consideration to determine which potions would do the most good based upon Harry's current condition before he pulled out three small vials, one small jar, and a roll of bandages. Cracking open the jar (which held a bluish-green paste that was labeled as Cold Cream), Trowa had Quatre lift Harry's frostbitten right hand and arm out of the blankets and carefully began spreading the paste over Harry's near-frozen hand and arm. He then wiped his hands off on his pants, grabbed the roll of gauze, and securely wrapped Harry's arm all the way up to the middle of his upper arm to prevent the strange cream from being wiped off.

Next, he tucked Harry's arm back beneath the blankets and helped Quatre sit Harry up enough so they could feed him the potions, starting with a Rejuvenating Potion that would help deal with Harry's magical exhaustion as his magic would be needed to help speed up the healing process. Following that he gave the unresponsive wizard a general healing draught that should help counteract the hypothermia and a mild pain relieving potion that would ease the discomfort of both the frostbite and renewed circulation as his body returned to a more normal temperature.

He then packed up the potions case, shucked his own clothes (carefully so as not to startle Seth who was wrapped around his waist), and crawled in beside Harry on the opposite side of Quatre. The cobra giving a hissing complaint before moving to curl up against Trowa's back as Trowa curled up right beside Harry's ice cold body while Quatre pressed closer from the other side. Resting his chin on top of Harry's head, Trowa closed his eyes and prayed that the potions would do their job and hoped that Harry didn't panic too badly when he woke up and found himself in such a vulnerable position.

* * *

Harry sat back and sighed as he glanced around his mindscape. It felt like he'd been in his mind forever and he was more than a little tired of the endless destruction. He'd cleaned up a fair portion of his inner mind and repaired some of the damage but he'd been working on it non-stop since he'd been pulled into his mind because he had nothing else to do. What he needed was a real break and some sleep so that his body could heal and his mind could rest. Sighing a second time, Harry bent down to pick up another discarded bit of… something that he couldn't quite identify and carried it over to where he'd been sorting all of the various junk he'd found.

He took another long look around his inner mind and couldn't help but feel proud of how much he'd gotten done even if he'd much rather not have been in his mind for so long. Nearly a quarter of his mindscape had been repaired of the damage done to it and cleared of debris; though it still looked pretty bleak and barren it didn't look quite as bad as the parts he'd not yet worked on. He then stared back at the piles of identifiable and unidentifiable junk and wondered what he was going to do with all of it. Some of what he'd been collecting were bits and pieces of damaged memories, some of them represented old discarded hopes and lost dreams, and quite a few were pieces of the nightmares that often haunted him.

While he was contemplating the orderly mess, Harry tried to recall what he'd read in the two Mind Magics books about repairing a damaged mindscape. He'd studied that particular section extensively once he'd discovered the state of his inner mind because making a mistake could create all kinds of mental problems and Harry had enough of those without giving himself a split personality or something worse. A portion of text from _My Mind is My Fortress_ floated through his mind shortly after he began concentrating on recalling the information and Harry took a moment to examine it.

_To repair a damaged mindscape one should remember that the best way to fix that which  
is broken is to build something new out of the ruins. A new forest will be reborn out of the  
ashes of a forest fire through the seeds that remain from that which was lost._

"Build something new? What should I build though?" Harry mused thoughtfully as he allowed the memory of the written words to fade and returned his eyes once more to the desolate landscape of his inner mind. Another small section from the book made itself known as if Harry had called it into being simply by asking his questions.

_Your mindscape is a representation of who you are as a person and should therefore be a  
reflection of who you see yourself as in addition to whom you wish to someday be. It is also  
suggested that you stick to what you know best since if you can't recognize what you've  
built then it would be far too easy to lose yourself within your own mind. _

Harry frowned as he thought about what made him who he was and who he thought he wanted to be. As he struggled within himself a memory rose up out of the depths of his mind and he turned to watch the scene play out. A wistful smile danced about his lips as he watched himself joking around with Trowa during one of their performances from the time they spent with the circus. Before the full memory could play out, it changed and he was now watching an older memory of himself hiding in a tree staring wishfully at the kids and their parents laughing as they wandered through a traveling carnival that had come to Little Whinging one summer.

In the second memory, he couldn't help but notice how his younger self's eyes were drawn time and time again to the House of Mirrors and the people stuck inside trying to find their way out. That brought forth a fragment from one of Cathy's books of magic tricks that she'd let him borrow back before she knew he was a wizard.

_To give your tricks an appearance of true magic once you've mastered the slight of hand  
technique; you should consider using smoke and mirrors to draw the eyes of your audience  
away from what you are doing. Coaxing them to see only what you want them to see._

"Smoke and mirrors," Harry murmured to himself with a nod. "Ironic and very fitting; seeing as how I am constantly pretending to be something I am not. I also try to disguise my magic with tricks to make it seem as if I am not doing anything special when in fact I am."

With a new direction in which to focus his energy, Harry picked up a random piece of debris from the discarded pile of damaged memories, old hopes, lost dreams, and nightmares and set about building the foundation of what would become his House of Mirrors. He hadn't actually gotten all that much done when he felt a gentle tug on his mind and turning, suddenly found himself waking up in his body for the first time since he'd lost consciousness after attempting to protect the satellite from the Colony. The first thing he noticed was how warm and comfortable he was in comparison to the stark coldness he recalled from before (even if he still felt chilled). The second thing he noticed was the constant ache of pins and needles stabbing into his right hand and arm as someone smeared an icy coldness over his fingers, hand, wrist, and arm.

"No touch," Harry weakly ordered as he attempted to tug his hand free only to feel someone grab hold of his upper arm in order to hold him still.

"Relax, Taliesin, we're almost finished."

"Cathy…?"

"No, I'm Iria; Quatre's older sister."

Forcing his eyes open, Harry blinked up at the woman in question before he glanced down to where she was holding his arm. His eyes then trailed over to the hands that were still spreading a bluish-green cream over the skin of his hand and wrist and followed those up until he was looking at Trowa who was in turn intently staring at Harry's hand as he worked. It was at that point he became aware of a warm presence pressed up against his back, an arm around his waist, and someone's legs entwined with his; quickly recognizing the feel of bare skin pressed up against his. He tensed and whined low in his throat as he instinctively started to struggle in an effort to free himself only to freeze when a familiar and comforting voice sounded near his ear.

"Easy, Taliesin; no one is going to hurt you and I have no intention of taking advantage of you," Quatre assured him as he reached out and carded his fingers through Harry's hair. "We were afraid to let you sleep alone because your body couldn't seem to generate any heat of its own after you came so close to freezing to death when Dogstar's internal systems were damaged. It didn't help that you have no body fat to help keep your body insulated."

Harry took a shaky breath as he tried not to think about his current state of undress and did his best to relax as he allowed Quatre to pull him close once more (his trust in Quatre helping to keep him from completely panicking). Trowa in the mean time had begun wrapping Harry's hand in gauze and Harry could already feel the pain receding as the healing cream numbed the nerves in his hand, wrist, and arm. Feeling safe with the knowledge that at least two of his brothers were watching over him, Harry drifted off to sleep a few minutes later for some much needed rest.

Two waking and sleeping cycles after he first woke up, Harry was sitting in the co-pilot's seat curled up in a couple of blankets with a mug of hot chocolate in his left hand and an open book sitting on his lap. Quatre was in the pilot's seat flying the shuttle, Iria was napping back in the passenger section, and Trowa was working on repairing the damage that Dogstar had taken when Harry's shield had failed to hold back the full force of the firepower that Colony L4 had unleashed in order to destroy the satellite. While he was mostly recovered from his most recent brush with death, Harry's body was still wracked with constant chills and his right hand and arm were in constant pain due to the permanent nerve damage he'd sustained from the frostbite.

"Are you warm enough?" Quatre inquired when he noticed Harry shiver and pull the covers closer.

Harry opened his mouth to give out his customary 'I'm fine' response only to pause as he shivered again and he sighed before answering, "No… even my wings ache from the chill."

"I thought you wove warming charms into those pockets you created."

"No, adding any more magic to the pockets destabilized everything and usually ended up causing the weave of the shirts to disintegrate completely. The warming charm wasn't really needed anyway."

"Do you think the fact that your wings are cold is the reason you feel as if you can't get warm? I seem to recall Trowa and Duo mentioning that they were oddly warm the few times they came into contact with them. I also remember you saying something about your wings generating warmth like the phoenix that healed you; do you know why they aren't doing so now? Also, since you told us that they were also influenced by the basilisk venom in your blood would the cold have had an adverse affect on them much like it had on both you and Seth?"

Harry stilled for a moment before another shiver wracked his body as he focused inwards on what he knew about his wings and compared that to what he knew about phoenixes and snakes in general. A minute later, he looked up at Quatre with worried eyes as he stated, "Both snakes and phoenixes require warmth to survive; the snakes seeking outside sources to warm their bodies because they can't generate their own while phoenixes generate near constant flames inside of their bodies. Even the slightest drop in temperature will affect a snake, slowing them down and making them sluggish, but usually phoenixes won't feel the cold. However, freezing a phoenix is one of the only ways to truly kill a phoenix without it being reborn because the internal flames, that allow it to be reborn out of its ashes, die the moment the phoenix is frozen."

"When was the last time you had a chance to take a good look at your wings and gave them a chance to breathe a bit?"

"Not since before we reached the colony. When I changed shirts after you guys finally let me out from beneath the blankets I was in too much of a hurry to get dressed to pay them much mind because I was so cold at the time."

"And you haven't wanted Iria to see them because you prefer hiding them from everyone; especially from those you don't know very well," Quatre deduced. "And we didn't even think to check on them when we first striped you out of your clothes in order to warm you up because we were far more concerned with taking care of your arm and warming up your body."

"Something like that… but for the most part I've not really thought about them much because I was too focused on trying to keep warm."

"No time like the present to rectify the matter. Who would you like to have on hand to help you in case you need a hand taking care of them since you can't use any active magic in this shuttle and we won't catch up to the others for at least another seventy-two hours? And don't even think about putting this off that long because for all we know the longer you ignore them the worse you're going to get."

"I… you won't be offended if I ask Trowa? I don't like the idea that someone besides me will have to touch them but he did that one time when I dropped my knives and knowing that might make it easier to bear if I don't have a choice."

"I understand and no I'm not offended."

Harry finished his hot chocolate, set his book side, pulled the blankets close around him, and headed back to the cargo bay to ask Trowa if he would mind helping him. He was met at the entrance to the chamber separating the passenger section from the cargo bay and he gave a half smile and shook his head, knowing that Quatre must have called Trowa over the comm. link to let the green-eyed pilot know what was going on and that Harry might need help. Trowa gave him a knowing smile in return as he closed the door and gestured for Harry to let out his wings.

Harry bit his lip and nodded reluctantly in response as he allowed the blankets to pool around his feet while he reached up and slipped off the button-up shirt he was wearing. As his wings slipped free of the hidden pocket there were two simultaneous gasps; one from Trowa as he took in the state of Harry's wings and one from Iria who'd woken up a few minutes earlier. Harry cringed over the fact that Iria now knew about his wings but was soon distracted when he too caught sight of his wings and he let out a soft whine as he immediately suspected that the magic in his wings that generated the heat they usually radiated had been severely drained during his recent ordeal in order to keep him alive; damaging in the wings in the process.

The normally shiny metallic black and green feather-like scales that made up his wings had turned a sickly black-gray and looked fairly frayed (like wet, wind torn feathers) and there were small bits of ice packed between the scales. They also felt far heavier than normal and were hanging so low the tips dragged on the ground, pulling uncomfortably at his shoulders. Swallowing thickly, Harry glanced up at Trowa with worried eyes as his wings sluggishly stretched outwards only to stop and fall limply from the pain as the ice between the scales pulled painfully on the scales.

"Iria, we can answer the questions I can see forming in your mind later," Trowa bluntly stated as he quickly crossed the floor to Harry's side. "Right now I'm going to need you to tell Quatre to set the shuttle on autopilot because I'm going to need both of you to help me again. Once you do that, please go fill up a large bucket with water that is about room temperature but failing that slightly cool to the touch is better than warm."

Iria didn't hesitate to do as ordered; too stunned by the fact that Harry had wings to protest. Quatre joined them a moment later, took one look at Harry's wings then glanced to Trowa waiting for the other teen to tell him what he needed.

"Quatre, grab the pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags we used earlier; we need to make him comfortable on the floor and start clearing the ice out from under the scales. After that I'd like you to bring me a handful of towels and start warming several more so that they are slightly warmer than room temperature."

Harry was only half listening to Trowa taking charge of the situation as he tentatively reached out and brushed a hand against his left wing only to wince when it felt like ice beneath his fingers. He turned his attention back to his brother when he heard Trowa call his name and woodenly moved forward to help the taller teen to set up a makeshift bed on the floor. Once the pillows and blankets were in position, Trowa had Harry lay down on his stomach and carefully wrapped his left wing in another blanket before moving around to Harry's right wing as Iria returned with the water.

"Quatre, I'm going to need you to hold his shoulders once I start working on his right wing in order to keep him from wriggling about. Iria, I'm going to need you to hold his legs for the same reason and please avoid brushing against either of his wings. Taliesin… I'm going to need you to relax as best you can; I know how much it bothers you for anyone to touch your wings but I need to clear out the ice before I can even start warming them up."

"I know, Trowa… just… just please be careful with how you shift the scales; they're stuck together because of the ice and if you move one it pulls painfully on all the others around it."

"I promise I will be extra careful. Go ahead and spread your right wing out as far as you comfortably can."

Harry extended the wing in question about halfway before the ice clinging to the scales began pulling on the scales and sending pain through the wing. He hissed a bit as he felt Trowa slide a few pillows beneath the wing to keep it off the floor and shivered when he felt Iria and Quatre putting weight on his legs and shoulder respectively. He held perfectly still though and actually sighed in relief as Trowa began using a wet towel to loosen the ice; the cool water feeling warm against the iciness clinging to his wings.

Three and a half hours later, Harry drifted off to sleep feeling far warmer than he had in days as Trowa finished wrapping his left wing in lightly warmed towels and covered it with another blanket. Just having the ice removed from between the scales had eased the constant chill he'd felt along with the bone deep ache that he'd not known he'd been feeling from his wings. Quatre, in the mean time, pulled his sister into the cockpit to answer some of the questions she had about Harry and the revelation that he had wings.

Harry woke up nearly two cycles later feeling almost completely normal aside from the uncomfortable itching of his wings and the persistent faint burning needles of pain that were the nerves in his right arm. Stifling a yawn, Harry pushed himself up onto his knees and began working to free his wings from the towels and blankets. Once the wings were clear, Harry stretched them out to the side and gave a few experimental flaps, lifting his feet a few inches off the floor, before he shook them out.

"You're shedding," Trowa announced with slight surprise from where he'd been sitting in one of the seats switching out components on one of the many damaged system boards from Dogstar while keeping watch over Harry at the same time.

Confused, Harry glanced down to where Trowa was staring and found dozens of clear casings with ragged and blackened edges. He then brought both of his wings forward so he could study them and noticed several healthy black and green feathery scales interspersed amongst the damaged scales. Running his fingers along the edge of one wing pulled free a few more casings to reveal the healthy scales beneath and Harry laughed and shook his head over the fact that he was shedding like snake.

Harry frowned for a moment then as he wondered why his wings hadn't shed the last time he'd injured one and if it had something to do with the fact this time they'd been injured by the cold instead of just being cut, if it was because it had been the entirety of both wings that had been damaged, or if maybe because the last time he'd injured one of them it had been when they were still so new and full of the magic that had created them. There was also the fact that the flow of magic through his wings had been disrupted when it had been redirected to save his life when he was exposed to the harsh conditions of space when Dogstar had been damaged.

"I suppose that would explain why my wings are all itchy," Harry commented after shaking away yet another mystery regarding his wings as he twitched his wings against the slightly uncomfortable itchy feeling. He then spent several minutes shaking his wings to knock free a few more of the loose sheds and watching the thin film-like sleeves drift to the floor. "I can honestly say I now understand why the snakes get so irritable when they go through their shedding cycle. It's a rather annoying feeling."

"I imagine it must feel much like a half-healed sunburn when the skin starts to peel. You look like you're feeling much better, are you feeling any lingering chills?"

"I feel great… no more chills and no more achiness in my wings. My arm still bothers me but I don't think there's anything that can be done for it. I'm just thankful I didn't lose it completely. I owe Seth my life as well; if not for him I'd have passed out with my right glove still off and I doubt all the magic in the world would have helped me survive inside of the frozen suit much longer with my spacesuit not working right because that glove was off."

"I will never complain about Seth's constant presence or question your sanity over bringing the cobra into space with you again," Trowa declared solemnly. "I'm also very glad that your wings weren't permanently damaged by the cold like the nerves in your right hand were; I was worried they would be when I first saw how damaged they were. Would you like some help removing the rest of the dead skin from your wings to relieve the itching?"

"Yes, please…? As much as I don't like anyone touching my wings the itching is going to drive me spare."

Trowa chuckled and set aside the system board he was working on and picked up one of the discarded towels in order to use it to gently coax the dead casings from the hard to reach spots on the back of Harry's wings while Harry pulled them free from the edges with his hands. When the last casing had been pulled free of his wings, Harry gathered them all up and meticulously vanished all but a small handful that he stored in his trunk (so they could later be tested for magical properties that could potentially be beneficial in potions). He could have just thrown them all away but his past experiences with Polyjuice Potion meant he was leery of leaving bits of himself laying around where an enemy could make use of it (as OZ had with his stolen blood due his brief stint as a prisoner).

* * *

**Translations: **Latin to English

Contego – to cover, shield, protect, defend  
Maxima – A derivative of maximus (meaning large, great, or important) or maxime (meaning greatly, exceedingly, or to the highest degree) and implied to mean maximum. I'm not sure if this is fanon or canon but I've seen it in FanFiction and I think it was even in the movies.

**Notes**: Text Excerpts

All three excerpts that appear in this story were written by me and any resemblance to any actual text from any book or text is purely coincidental as I have never read any magic trick books, meditation books, and Occlumency doesn't really exist.

* * *

**AN:** _Such a busy chapter this time again. We see both Zayeed and Iria saved (which definitely will have an impact on the entire Gundam verse as the effect ripples outwards. We also see that Harry's blood wards are not perfect and they can be breached. Seth has also proved himself a worthy space-snake. His entire being is owed to the fact that I saw him saving Harry in a non-conventional way and having him sing the theme songs from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Futurama, Dr. Who, and other cool sci-fi shows/movies was just a bonus. _

_I also gave Wufei a bit more screen time in this chapter. Poor guy ends up side-lined most times because he is the hardest pilot for me to write. He's also not as close to Harry as the other four pilots right now and part of that is because I think he's feeling the guiltiest about dragging Harry into their war (he did protest the loudest in the beginning after all) but Harry will bring him around later (just think of him as a male McGonagall; caring but quiet and stern as well as set in his ways). _

_Next up; Harry's nerve damage. So far in the story I've allowed all of Harry's injuries to be solved with a quick fix (aside from his wings) and I needed to remind the troublesome wizard that magic can't fix/solve everything because he was getting cocky (he yelled at me for hours for damaging his wand arm). That won't be the last injury he gets but it will be the only one that leaves lasting damage aside from a scar or two I think. Next chapter is equally as long and will contain lots more action as the space arc continues to play out. _

_Last note and then I'm outta here since this chapter was over 11,000 words prior to my notes; omakes and missing moments. I have tons of author cuts that I am organizing into one-shots to show how things might have turned out differently in a few cases. I have also had requests for a few missing scenes to be written. I'll be tossing them up as a separate story once I have a few of them ready and after I get a couple of other things done. I'll let you know when once I have them organized and know what my schedule will be like for the rest of the year. _

_That said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and look forward to what you all have to say about it. Next chapter will be out either by Sunday or after the 4th as the unpleasantness needs to be faced again. Depends on how much I get done on Chaos and WWYR2 and how much stress builds up between now and Tuesday. ~ Jenn_

_**12-03-12:**__ This chapter has just been edited in order to fill in a minor plot hole that I was reminded about by Mist Shadow regarding Harry's wing sheddings. See last paragraph for the actual update. =)_


	25. The Best Laid Plans

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 24: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

There was a brief moment of tension when the two groups reunited as the three pilots who'd been separated from Harry gave him a critical once over. Harry had half expected to be scolded over what had happened but all five pilots knew that what happened hadn't been Harry's fault and he'd warned them that what they had asked him to do could fail. And while Harry had succeeded in protecting the satellite it was not without cost and that alone drove home the fact that even magic had limits and that not even the enhancements Harry had added to their suits could protect them from everything.

It also sharply reminded Harry that just because he'd not encountered other wizards in this world didn't mean that those who were born into this world couldn't defeat his magic in other ways. He was not invincible even if at times it seemed like he was.

Once the moment passed, it was business as usual for the six teens. Harry worked on finding ways to fix the weak points in the magical warding of the suits (or rather in the protective spells woven over top of the wards), researched ways to heal or at least protect the damaged nerves in his hand, and continued to train with the pilots on various methods of traveling through space and in self-defense. Heero and Trowa worked to repair the damaged suits and made certain that Harry didn't push himself into the ground (like he had during the weeks leading up to their departure from Earth).

Quatre spent time reconciling with his father, learning how to run the family business now that Zayeed had been declared dead (because the colony thought he died in the faked shuttle explosion), and performing his diplomatic duties for L4 in order to get the Colony the support it needed since it was technically their fault that the Colony had lost its satellite. Duo and Wufei spent half of their time repairing the shuttle that Harry had disabled (and the mobile dolls it contained) so that the shuttle could be warded against his magic and the dolls could be used in their fight against OZ and the other half of their time tracking OZ's movements in space.

About a week and a half after the group had been reunited, the six teens began planning their next strike against OZ. This time they were looking to start freeing the political prisoners that OZ had taken; such as the scientists that had created the Gundams, a number of the Alliance and Colony delegates that the pilots had saved from assassination earlier that year, and other political figures that had been speaking out against OZ. While the six of them had been doing everything they could to fight against OZ they knew they couldn't do it alone and who better to work with them than the people that OZ considered their greatest threats?

Harry sat in the corner sewing two pieces of supple dark green dragon hide together using a charm he'd learned before he'd pulled Heero off the beach; absently listening to the discussion the others were holding. The pair of flashing needles reached the end of the seam they'd been stitching and dropped to hang limply from the leather as Harry lowered his wand. Reaching out, Harry lifted the half finished glove, tied off the threads, and severed the extra length of thread with his teeth before he turned it right side out and pulled it over his right hand. It fit snuggly over his hand and arm, ending about three inches past the elbow, and Harry flexed his fingers a moment before forming a fist; noting that the slight pressure from the snug fitting glove didn't irritate the hand as much as he'd expected it to even if the seams dug into his skin uncomfortably and chafed against his damaged nerves.

"If we set off explosions here, here, and here; we could draw most of the soldiers guarding the place away from the cells," Heero suggested as he used a finger to tap the blue print spread on the table in front of the pilots.

"Creating such a loud distraction would announce our presence and make it harder to get out back out with weak and potentially injured prisoners though," Quatre pointed out with a frown. "Wouldn't it be better to sneak in and sneak out?"

"If we don't draw da guards away then how would we sneak passed them since accordin' da security data da corridors are swarmin' with soldiers guardin' da 'dangerous' political prisoners that wish ta 'destroy' da peace that OZ is 'creatin'?" Duo drawled with an undertone of frustration.

"Vanishing prisoners would be far harder to explain if there is no evidence of outside interference and would therefore lead to confusion, suspicion, and frustration between the multitude of factions that are bound to have formed within OZ's troops; which in turn would benefit our cause," Wufei commented as he leaned forward to study the blue print. "If we sneak in through an unconventional entrance and take care to avoid drawing the attention of the soldiers we could conceivably sneak back out the same way with those we are rescuing. Instead of using a distraction we should use misdirection and illusion; we've doctored surveillance systems before so why can't we do it again?"

"That won't stop the soldiers from spotting us if we run into them or keep them from noticing that the prisoners are disappearing," Heero countered with frown.

"My invisibility cloak can get at least three people into the prison unseen," Harry interjected as he peeled the glove off and turned it inside out once more so he could start applying the charms that would strengthen and hide the seams. "Sneak in, grab the prisoners, and then sneak back out. Of course, that would be far easier to do if you would allow me to test the effects space has on portkey travel between the two shuttles so I could determine if the magic of the portkey offered enough protection to those traveling. If we used the portkeys we could transfer the prisoners out that way instead of risking them turning uncooperative while we are trying to sneak them out."

"We've discussed this, Taliesin; you are not going to risk yourself experimenting with magic out in space when you have no idea what effect it will have on you," Heero curtly replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "If the spell pulls you through the vacuum of space it could injure or kill you."

"Yet it's okay for you to risk your life blasting into the prison and drawing the attention of every single soldier in the facility?" Harry demanded back as his mismatched eyes flashed angrily up to meet Heero's determined blue eyes. "I've told you; the time it takes to travel by portkey would leave me exposed for less than twenty seconds; that is far less time than I was exposed to the frozen vacuum of space when my suit's temperature controls and life support system failed. A hot drink or meal and a warm blanket or two once the test is over would be enough to counter any adverse effects if I was dragged through space. Even a lack of oxygen for such a short amount of time wouldn't really put me at much risk."

"I already said no…"

"You know, think of the benefits such an object could present on missions where there is a chance that a pilot could be killed when his mobile suit is about to be destroyed," Zayeed mused as he leaned in the doorway, giving away the fact that he'd been eavesdropping on the planning session for quite some time. "How many lives could be saved if the pilots could be removed in an instant?"

"Not happening…"

"How long will it be before he decides to experiment behind your back with this or other risky tricks he thinks might come in handy?" Zayeed continued as if Heero hadn't spoken at all. "If he knows you'll never agree to allow him to test his limits because you don't trust him to take precautions; what is to stop him from hiding his experiments from you? How long is it before he rejects your orders and decides to strike out on his own to do what he believes is right?" As he asked this last bit he looked right at Quatre and the blonde pilot offered the older man an understanding smile as he understood that his father had, in a way, just admitted to his own shortcomings as a father.

"My father is correct and we all know that Taliesin is just as stubborn as the rest of us," Quatre murmured softly and everyone turned to watch Harry who appeared to be ignoring everyone as he wove several additional protective spells into his glove along with a warming charm to prevent any drastic temperature drops from aggravating the damaged nerves.

"Unlike normal kids who have the choice to disobey their older brothers or their parents; I can't," Harry quietly reminded the five teens, his eyes once again cutting towards Heero before he dropped them back to his wand work (a pointed reference to the few times Harry had truly disobeyed a direct order from Heero and the price he'd paid for the defiance when his magic violently lashed out at him). "All I want is to be able to do my part to help… what was the point of you all training me if I'm not allowed to help? Each of us has a different strength and mine just happens to be magic but like all skills it takes practice and training and sometimes you have to have practical tests to insure the theory is sound."

"Stubborn brat," Heero growled without any heat before he sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"Kettle meet Pot," Harry shot back as he glanced up over his glasses at Heero. "Would you like me to introduce you to Cauldron too? Although you might already know him; he's sitting right beside you."

"Oy! What da hell?" Duo protested loudly when he noted that he was the only one sitting next to Heero who was seated at the end of the table. "Why are ya draggin' me inta this? Can't ya pick on Wuff-man for once?"

"Do you think it might have something to do with the fact that you are annoying?" Wufei inquired as he gave the long haired pilot a flat look that conveyed his irritation at being called by the ridiculous nickname.

The short exchange broke the growing tension in the room as most everyone laughed over Duo's indignation. Harry smiled lightly and shook his head as pulled his glove right side out as he tucked away his wand before pulling the glove back on. He sighed softly in relief when he noted that the minor discomfort he had felt when he first pulled on the glove was now gone, thanks to his charm work, and that the constant ache he'd felt since he'd been injured had been dulled to a more tolerable level. When he looked back up he noted everyone watching him with mild interest.

"Well?" Trowa inquired pointedly as he glanced down at Harry's right arm.

"It seems to be helping," Harry answered as he too glanced down at his gloved arm and curled his hand in a fist once more. "And it will at least prevent moderate temperature changes from making the pain flare. I don't know what I'm going to do about casting though; my skin has to actually be touching my wand for me to get the best results. And just strapping it to my arm like I do when I'm wearing my spacesuit won't work for everything. I could potentially cast left handed but to do so I'd have to relearn how to cast each and every spell and that means I'd have little to no control over my spells which could create problems because there really isn't a place for me to practice my control out here in space."

"Does your entire hand have ta be in contact with da handle of your wand?" Duo asked. "If not, ya could remove da first half inch from da fingertips or cut a circle in da palm of da glove ta allow for da minimum amount of contact that will allow ya ta both protect your nerves and maintain your current proficiency."

"That might work but it would still require me to experiment," Harry stated as he pulled the glove off and carefully began the process of adding one of his wing pockets (this one designed to hold Seth) into the glove above the elbow on the inner most side where it would be less likely to be damaged in case he was attacked. He'd eventually add a holster for his wand and a small hidden pocket to hold a set of lock picks or a small knife (such as the one his godfather had given him that he had left back on earth with his broom because he hadn't want to lose it).

Heero groaned over the subtle dig before he threw up his arms and ground out, "Fine! But you damn well had better make certain you are fully prepared for anything that could possibly go wrong and have someone standing by to help you after the transport."

Eight hours later saw Harry and Heero standing in the middle of the half warded shuttle, both of them wearing their regular clothes, as they waited for Trowa to give him the signal to activate the portkey. It would have been safer to do the test with their spacesuits on but because they did not have enough spacesuits protected from magic to hand them out to those they would be rescuing (though Harry was warding a few of extra suits they'd stolen from OZ whenever he had time and storing them in Dogstar and the other suits in case there was ever a need for them), they had to know how using a portkey through space would affect an unprotected traveler. Heero was taking part in the test along with Harry so they would have a better idea of how the trip would affect someone with little to no magic to compensate for the potentially harsh conditions.

"_Alright, little brother, we're ready for you to begin._"

"You do realize that I am technically two years older than you, right?" Harry dryly groused back before he called out the activation phrase. "May the force be with you."

Heero gave Harry a funny look when the shorter teen burst out giggling as they were hooked by the bellybutton and pulled through space to the other shuttle in a swirl of blue and gold. There was a brief impression of intense cold and breathlessness before they were spilled out onto the floor of the warded shuttle. Harry gasped and grabbed his right arm when his damaged nerves flared from the brief brush with the cold as he felt a warm blanket draped over his shoulders. A glance at Heero, who was also just given a blanket, showed the pilot had faired a bit better than Harry had if only because Heero didn't have any nerve damage.

"Merlin's shorn beard but I hate traveling by portkey," Harry growled once his head had cleared and the ache in his arm had receded.

"Well, what's the verdict?"

"The spinning was the worst," Heero replied after thinking about what he'd just experienced for a moment. "You're going so fast you really don't even have time to think about the cold or the low oxygen levels and the landing is a pain but overall I think it would be safe enough to use sparingly in the event of an emergency or to transport prisoners out safely. I would not recommend traveling that way too often though because the effects could be cumulative."

"It was cold and felt like I'd just flown by broom too high but it was over almost as soon as it started," Harry added as he accepted a mug of warm apple cider. "It was murder on the nerves in my right arm though; even with the protective charms on my glove."

"So, we gonna alter da plan?" Duo asked as he glanced between Heero and Harry a couple of times.

"Not having to worry about the prisoners causing trouble or having to fight our way back out would make things far easier," Heero grudgingly stated as he scowled lightly into his mug of coffee.

"Careful there, Hee-man, ya might hurt yourself if ya try ta swallow all of your earlier protests all at once."

"Shut up, Maxwell."

"Ouch, and we're back on last name terms again."

"That's because you like poking sleeping dragons with pointy swords made of words," Harry quipped around his mug as he tried not to laugh at the two pilots. He then grew serious as he mused, "Using the portkeys out here in space means that timing and target location will be extremely important; unless I can use a blood rune as a beacon or reference point since the shuttles move around far too much to be considered safe jumping points and even then they'd have to be stationary at the time the portkeys were created and during the jump; otherwise we'd miss the shuttle completely and end up out in space. When are we staging the first breakout?"

"In five complete cycles," Quatre replied as he glanced at the file he was holding.

"It shouldn't take me more than one full cycle to fix a jump point for the portkeys. I just won't be able to create the portkeys until the shuttle is in position above the target. How many warm bodies do I need to account for?"

"Twelve at our first target," Wufei answered as he passed Harry a stack of photos. "They've got all of the political prisoners spread out across several facilities. I've located all but the five scientists that created the Gundams."

"We're going to need equipment and supplies once we start rescuing people," Trowa announced as he skimmed through their supply manifest. "We didn't account for collecting co-conspirators in our original calculations."

"I'm not sharing my stash of expensive chocolate," Harry swore as he reached up to protectively clutch his shrunken supply trunks. "But I do have other food that can be added to the rest of our supplies as needed until we can establish resupply lines and what not."

Trowa snorted softly and shook his head at the chocolate reference as it brought to mind Harry's claim of being allergic to chocolate the night they'd fallen into OZ's hands and the video of Harry's indignation over the guard smashing his mug of hot chocolate in the dungeon. Harry flashed him a sad grin letting him know he knew what he'd been thinking about.

* * *

That first rescue went off with only one minor glitch; when an OZ guard managed to hitch a ride on one of the portkeys at the last second. A few of the rescued prisoners were a little upset that they'd not had the chance to take a little of their anger over their forced imprisonment out on their guards but that didn't last for long and most of them were just thankful to be free again. Even better was the fact that they were being given a chance to fight back and not just hustled off into hiding. The addition of the twelve adults followed by the active recruitment of sympathetic colonists to their group saw a subtle power shift amongst the Gundam pilots in their efforts to establish order within their growing organization; though it was really more of an affirmation of their former roles.

Quatre, as new head of the Winner Corporation and a diplomat of L4, sank into the background to a point as he focused on fighting the war on the political and economical front. Trowa took charge of training and outfitting the incoming recruits (making certain that each of them knew what they were doing before they were sent on any missions) as well as leading the occasional mission where his skills were needed. Duo supervised the upgrades and maintenance of all mobile suits that came into their possession and became their scavenger/salvage technician in order to make certain there were always a steady supply of useable equipment, recyclables, and resalable goods coming into the satellite so that they could both make and save money.

Heero became the leading general of their growing forces out in the field; leading and organizing the various raids on prison and manufacturing facilities. Wufei was the official head of the intelligence and research division as well as a lieutenant in their army as he occasionally led additional raids to secure information. Zayeed took charge of the satellite facility and worked extensively with Trowa and Duo to keep the Resistance supplied with food, munitions, and any equipment that wasn't collected via Duo's scavenging in addition to helping Quatre on the political front and with the running of Winner Corporation.

Iria fulfilled the roll of their chief medical officer as the only trained doctor currently on staff (not counting Trowa's limited training or Harry's magical healing and potions). Field Marshal Noventa became the figurehead of the Resistance shortly after they rescued him, with the five Gundam pilots, Zayeed, and several other high ranked political and military refugees functioning as his advisors. The man had nearly been demoted to boot scrubber when he'd tried to marginalize Harry's role in the organization (due to how young Harry appeared) but Harry's adopted brothers put a stop to that real quick.

Harry's role in the Resistance remained ambiguous for the most part, though on the surface he was simply the pilot of the mobile suit Dogstar. However, all five of the Gundam pilots often listened to his opinions, suggestions, and advice and could be seen deferring to him on any missions where his magic was to play a major role in carrying out said mission (not that the new recruits or the former political prisoners knew about his magic). Something that was quickly noted by the individuals joining the Resistance and that gave the impression that Harry was actually the true leader of the rebels with Noventa's face acting as a layer of protection for the apparent child genius.

The seventeen year old wizard was completely oblivious to the fact that many of the solders and pilots working with them began emulating the five pilots as more and more of them started seeing him as their true leader. That image was only solidified by Harry's determination to protect not just his brothers but the rest of those who joined the growing rebel organization; arguing adamantly against any and all potential suicide missions and offering alternatives that ultimately saved lives and accomplished their goals. Harry, on the other hand, never saw himself as a leader as he unfailingly looked to the five teens that made up the heart of his mismatched family for guidance.

As the Resistance grew in size and their activities became more widespread, the Star Pilots (as Harry and the Gundam pilots were now being called by the others due to the unique names and appearance of their mobile suits) saw less and less of each other as they carried out important missions. They never lost complete contact with one another but the time they had available to just hang out or train together was very limited.

This was especially true of Heero, Duo, and Harry as they spent roughly ninety percent of their time away from the satellite facility that had become the Resistance's headquarters. The separation was hard on Harry but he did his best not to let it get to him as he focused on what needed to be done instead of what he'd rather be doing. The important thing, after all, was that the overall morale within the Resistance was high as missions were more often than not completed with very few difficulties and fewer casualties.

It was inevitable that they would eventually run into missions that would fail for one reason or another and about the end of their third month out in space, one such failure saw the capture of Trowa and Heero by Lady Une. The two of them had been tasked to steal a newly completed battleship to add to their fleet and it was just their luck that Une had been inspecting the facility on the day they'd chosen to infiltrate the space station.

They had not anticipated the tripled number of soldiers patrolling the station since her inspection had been a last minute change of plans. Trowa had just fired up the engines of the battleship while Heero had been opening the docking bay doors when they'd been caught unawares by two platoons of mobile dolls with no where to go and no way to fight their way out because their suits had been loaded onto the battleship in preparation for take off.

Harry had been out on a mission of his own at the time; taking out a holding station for the mobile suits newly deployed from Earth (all suits now requiring extensive testing prior to deployment due to a slew of malfunctions that were courtesy of Harry's earlier sabotage missions during their supply raids). His attention had been completely on his mission since he was working with a trio of newly vetted Resistance pilots and his job was to distract the mobile dolls deployed in defense of the station while the others planted the necessary explosives to take out the station (after they'd spent a good three days monitoring the station's routine and studying the station's security network).

Once he'd been given word that the charges were set into place by the others, Harry led the mobile dolls on a merry chase while his three squad members retreated to a safe distance. He'd gone on to show the newbies exactly why he almost always acted as the decoy on missions where a large number of enemy suits and dolls were expected to be present as he pulled off moves that would have killed or seriously injured any other pilot in any other suit (not counting his brothers and their Star Suits) and often at speeds that even the mobile dolls couldn't keep up with.

Ten minutes after the trio had vacated the area, Harry detonated the charges after leading the mobile dolls right up close to the station and pulling a one-eighty-flip to reverse his direction. The empty computer operated suits hadn't even registered Harry's change of direction before a large explosion rocked the holding station and the entire station exploded outwards taking out the mobile dolls at the same time. Harry then rode the tail end of the shockwave to where the rest of his squad was waiting for him before they turned to scan the area for any surviving dolls.

"One-Three to Rebel Base, Holding Station near ex-one-eight-seven-two-two has been successfully disabled," Harry reported after making certain the other three pilots were uninjured. "Requesting clearance for Squad K-Nine to head home."

"_Good job, gentlemen; permission to return to headquarters granted,_" an unfamiliar young woman's voice replied just moments later.

"You heard the lady, folks; let's go home."

The trip back to the satellite base was relatively uneventful and Harry was in high spirits as he landed Dogstar in the docking bay. He was looking forward to spending some quality time with all five of his brothers as their next mandatory three cycle vacations were scheduled to start at the end of his current mission. It had been close to two weeks since he'd last seen all of his brothers together due to the high number of missions that had been pouring in and Harry had needed to part with six bars of premium dark chocolate (a rare commodity around the base) in order to bribe the scheduling office to make certain their next vacations coincided so they could spend a bit of time together. It was well worth it in Harry's mind though as he missed his brothers something fierce.

Harry dropped down out of the cockpit after shutting everything off and glanced around the hanger to see who else was already there. He was happy to see Rockstar sitting in its customary space and Dragonstar currently being resupplied with munitions and fuel. A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth when he noted that Deathstar, Superstar, and Northstar were still not back since they were due to have returned long before Harry. He was just wondering what might be keeping the trio when his attention was drawn back to his surroundings by loud voices.

"I can't get over the fact that he's just a kid," a voice stated incredulously. "Did you see those moves he pulled off out there?"

"Rumor has it the kid was born in a pilot's chair and I believe it after seeing him out fly all of those dolls as if he was out for a pleasure flight instead of facing dozens of deadly enemies," a second voice added.

"They say that the only ones who can keep up with him in a suit are the other five Star Pilots," yet another voice remarked.

Harry snorted and shook his head as he glanced back over his shoulder to see his temporary squad members gesticulating wildly as they continued the conversation out of Harry's hearing as they headed out of the docking bay. Their reaction to Harry's performance was one of the reasons Harry preferred flying solo missions. He was proud of his flying skills and didn't mind showing off every now and then but he disliked the exaggerated rumors that tended to crop up every time he worked with a new group of pilots. Harry knew he was a decent flyer but even he couldn't have flown a suit while still in diapers and yet the latest scuttlebutt had him piloting a suit before his umbilical cord had even been cut.

A smile began forming on Harry's face as he caught sight of Quatre walking towards him only for the smile to disappear when he noted the grim expression on his brother's face. Harry immediately began striding towards him in order to meet him halfway, pulling off his helmet and tucking it beneath his arm as he went.

"Wufei is waiting for you in the briefing room," Quatre stated the moment Harry reached him. "I'll be running a maintenance check on Dogstar and getting him resupplied. Is there anything in particular you need replaced?"

"Just the standard resupply kit as we didn't have any trouble," Harry replied, "And the left beam pistol needs to be checked because I think I burnt the power supply out towards the end of the mission."

"I'll see to it that both guns are checked and refitted with new packs."

Harry nodded before he gave the taller a searching look before demanding, "Quatre, what's going on? Dogstar wasn't scheduled for resupply until closer to the end of our vacation."

"Wufei will explain once you join him."

The non answer had a knot of dread settling into Harry's stomach as he gave a sharp nod, spun on his heel, and headed for the briefing room; not even bothering to swing by his quarters to change out of his spacesuit. He had a feeling that whatever had happened had something to do with his three absent brothers and that bothered him since the only reasons they might have been late was because they'd run into a problem during their latest missions, they were having technical difficulties with their suits, they'd been captured, or they'd been killed.

If it was just a matter of a simple delay in the mission or a problem with their suits, Harry knew he'd have heard about it long before he'd returned to base. Which meant one or more of them had been killed or captured during their missions and because Harry's suit was being prepped for another mission he'd bet it was the latter and not the former (the idea that any of his brothers had been killed being ruthlessly squashed by the young wizard). By the time Harry reached the briefing room he had worked himself into a fine fury with his anger and his magic was just barely held in check. He actually made the three people waiting inside of the briefing room jump when he slammed open the door and strode inside scowling.

His eyes swept over the faces of those in the room before he took note of the images and blueprints currently being projected onto the wall. "When were they captured, who caught them, and where are they being held?" Harry asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and leveled his mismatched gaze on Wufei.

"OZ was performing an unscheduled inspection of the shipyard that coincided with Heero and Trowa's mission to steal OZ's new battleship and they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. They are currently being held at the Lunar Base; which is where we now believe they are also holding the five scientists that built the Gundams," Wufei answered as he picked up a file containing all of his research and held it out to Harry. "Duo attempted to sneak into the base twenty-three hours ago in order to rescue them the moment he got wind of their capture but he was apprehended shortly after infiltrating the base."

"You didn't say who has them which means you're worried I'm going to flip when I find out. That leaves two possible candidates; Une or Zechs."

"Technically both; Une was the one credited with their capture (and that of their suits because they'd been loaded onto the battleship) but Zechs is currently in charge of the Lunar Base," Zayeed quietly stated.

Harry reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a near inaudible growl. After a minute, he reached out and accepted the file from Wufei before he turned and stalked out of the room without saying another word. He opened the file in his hand and began skimming through the data as he headed towards his room to take a shower, change his clothes, and gather what extra supplies he might need in light of who he might be forced to deal with in his bid to free his brothers. He also needed to collect Seth; the cobra having been left behind on the last mission due to being in the middle of a shed cycle and far more irritable than normal.

He wasn't very surprised to find Iria was standing outside of his room holding an emergency first aide kit as he walked up to his door. He grimly accepted the kit without saying anything and nodded his thanks to the thirty-some year old doctor as he opened his door and stepped inside of his room. He set both file and kit down on his table as he striped out of his spacesuit before peeling off both of his shirts; his wings rustling in agitation as he stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower.

Eight minutes later, he was shaking his wings dry as he toweled off the rest of his body before wrapping the damp towel around his waist. He then grabbed the leather cord holding his trunks and his holstered wand from the counter before heading back out into his room where he found Wufei waiting for him.

"Have you read through everything in the file?"

"No, I only got through the first quarter," Harry replied tightly as he dropped the leather necklace on the floor and restored three of the four trunks tied to the cord to their proper size with a tap of his wand.

Without waiting for Wufei to continue the conversation, Harry ducked down into his supply trunk and quickly set about putting on a clean set of clothes. He then grabbed a rucksack off the shelf and began packing up an assortment of magical prank supplies, a deck of cards he could use to make portkeys, four changes of clothes (three of them intended for his captured brothers), and several doses of various healing potions to add to the first aide kit.

Once he stepped out of the trunk, he quickly shrunk it back down before entering the food trunk where he gathered up several bottles of water, a box of chocolate frogs, and an assortment of ready to eat foods and snacks that didn't require refrigeration. From the third trunk, his library trunk, Harry grabbed the Marauder's grimoire that Sirius had given to him along with his copy of _A Collection of the World's Most Annoying and Irritating Spells_.

Upon returning to his room, Harry found that Wufei had spread a hard copy of the Lunar Base blueprints out on the table along with a dozen photos of the base from various angles. Harry silently joined the other teen, taking the time to properly pack the rucksack; taking out the potions he'd gathered so he could add them to the first aide kit so that they wouldn't be spilled or broken. As he deftly reorganized the bag, Wufei began going over the information they had on OZ's Lunar Base.

"The entire facility is made up of three main levels; one floor above ground and two below in addition to the control tower which is a full five stories, all of which are above ground. The first floor is mainly the barracks, an assortment of offices, storerooms, the mess hall, and thirty hanger bays for mobile suits and small spacecraft. The larger ships typically never land on the moon itself; falling into orbit for the duration of their stay in the area unless they are in urgent need of serious repair. The middle floor is a maze of rooms and hallways spread out over forty square miles beneath the surface of the moon including several research labs, a small mobile doll factory, a smithy, their training facility, dozens of storerooms, and an extensive warren of hallways that connect to the underground missile silos. The last floor contains the prison cells, interrogation rooms, and another series of storerooms."

"What is the shortest path between the moon's surface and the prison cells? How is the ventilation system set up on all three floors? Are they large enough for someone to crawl through them? And are the systems for all three floors interconnected or separate?"

"There are two possible routes that would take you straight to the prison cells; the first one you'd enter through this hanger here and drop down the elevator shaft to take you to the middle floor where you'd have to navigate these three hallways before dropping down a second shaft that will drop you out around the middle of the cell row," Wufei explained as he marked out the route with a red marker before he switched to a yellow marker as he went over the alternate route. "The problem with that route is that it is bound to be heavily patrolled and every inch of it is monitored by multiple security cameras since it is the main corridor. The second route calls for you to enter through one of the missile silos entrances at the far edge of the underground warren. You'd then drop down another lift that connects the silos on the outer edge of the base to the underground storerooms where they keep the longer ranged missiles. From there you can follow this hallway to the section containing the prison cells."

"The ventilation systems for each floor are completely separate systems; allowing for them completely close off each floor in the event of a containment breech that would compromise the life support systems of the base. It also allows them to cut the oxygen supply to the prison cells or the entire lower floor for mass execution should the need arise. The vents are also far too small for a full grown adult or even a large teen to crawl through; you might be able to fit through them so long as you keep your wings under wraps."

"When was the last time the entire facility was upgraded with the latest technology and security equipment?" Harry asked pensively as he turned from the blueprints to study the various photographs that had been taken of different portions of the base.

"Over twenty years ago based upon the records I managed to dig up on the base but that doesn't mean that some of the individual systems haven't been upgraded since then. These blueprints are slightly older than that so there is a chance they are not completely accurate. According to what I could find out by hacking into OZ's network, the prison facility on the Lunar Base is among the most secure; with a total of fifty individual cells and five larger cells that are capable of housing up to twenty prisoners each. The walls of each cell are made from a combination of rock and steel and are a foot and a half thick and that includes both the floor and ceiling. The doors are made from six inches of steel sheathed in titanium with computerized locks that can be controlled from the control room here, from the guard room here, and individually with a key code and key card."

"If they managed to find a way to get around the defensive wards in order to move Northstar, Deathstar, and Superstar into the Lunar Base, where will they most likely take them to in order to make an attempt at getting inside to study their systems?"

"In one of the research labs or the underground testing facility if they plan on having some of their troops attempt to pilot the suits or if they simply wish to dismantle them in an effort to figure out how their defenses work."

"Anything else I need to know about the Base's external defenses or the inside security system?"

"Not really; external defenses will include the missiles, a handful of beam cannons, firepower from whatever spaceships are in orbit at the time, and an unknown number of mobile suits or dolls deployed from orbit and the base. Internally all you have to worry about are the guards and the cameras; both of which are scattered throughout the base in large numbers."

"Do we know how many ships are currently orbiting the moon?"

"At least one; Lady Une's command ship which is the Alliance's former space fortress, the Barge," Wufei replied after a slight hesitation. "There is a slight chance that at least two of the Star Suits are still on her ship (Northstar and Superstar) as she would have been the one to transport Heero and Trowa to the Lunar Base after they were captured. There is no point in trying to sneak aboard the ship just to look for the two missing suits; they will be expecting it for one and their retrieval is not the only task you will need to carry out."

"You want me to smuggle the scientists out of the Lunar Base in addition to getting our brothers back if they are being kept there as well," Harry supplied with a nod.

"Yes, but that's still only a small portion of the mission. There are rumors that OZ has managed to coerce the scientists into creating two new Gundam suits intended to surpass our original five Gundams. You'll need to hack into their systems to destroy any research or blueprints for the suit or suits, locate the prototypes of the suits, and destroy both the prototypes (if the suits are being built on site). That is your main mission; getting the scientists out is important as well since they would be able to recreate the suits and there is no doubt that we need to get Duo, Trowa, and Heero and if possible get their modified suits back. But destroying the newly designed Gundams and the data used to create them is crucial. And, Taliesin, you can't just fry the systems on the prototypes; you have to completely and utterly destroy them."

"It would be far easier to steal them."

"We considered that too but we'd rather the technology be eradicated completely because if they ever fall into the wrong hands it could be disastrous."

"Much like the Gundams the five of you took to Earth."

"Yes; exactly like the suits we took to Earth."

"I understand," Harry murmured as he used his wand to make a copy of the base's blueprints that he then absorbed so that he could more easily recall the layout of all three floors in addition to his easiest routes in and out of the base.

Debriefing over, Harry collected Seth from his terrarium after noting the cobra had finally shed and draped the snake around his shoulders where he promptly slipped beneath his shirt. Next, Harry quickly gave his spacesuit a quick clean with his wand before putting it back on. He then grabbed his rucksack and helmet and started for the door only to stop and frown over his shoulder when Wufei spoke up once more.

"Taliesin, you're not going alone; Quatre and I will be going with you. And before you argue, you're going to need someone to pilot the shuttle once you sneak into the base so that you have a way to get the scientists out and in the event that Trowa, Duo, and Heero or their mobile suits are in no condition to fly out. You will also need someone to watch your back while you're inside of the base."

"I'll grab Dragonstar and Rockstar," Harry stated as he grudgingly accepted Wufei's reasoning; a large part of him relieved that he won't be alone. There was a small part of him that wished he could leave the two teens behind though because he didn't wish there to be any chance that they too would be captured.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry was sitting strapped into a seat in the small passenger section of their magically protected shuttle skimming through the two books he'd brought with him while Quatre and Wufei piloted the small spaceship. He wasn't looking forward to running into either Une or Zechs (or possibly both) but there was no way he was going to let his fear and hate for those two prevent him from freeing his brothers.

So he spent his time preparing himself for what he saw as the inevitable confrontation (that was the way his luck worked after all) and going over various methods he could use to completely destroy the two prototype suits. By the time Wufei was landing the shuttle on an empty stretch of the moon well out of site of the Lunar Base, Harry had made note of several useful spells that could help him during the mission without shutting down the entire base.

"Taliesin…? Harry…?"

Harry jumped a bit as he glanced up from his book to find Quatre standing over him trying to get his attention. He blinked up at him before turning around to glance out the window where he noted the barren landscape of the moon filling the view. Sighing, Harry unbuckled his seat belt and mechanically set about creating the portkeys that would be used to move the scientists and their brothers off of the base. He also emptied out the rucksack of everything but the prank supplies so he could use it to carry his brothers' suits if he found them inside of the Base. The pranks would be used to create diversions (and sew chaos) as he traveled through the base.

"You will be careful in there, won't you?" Quatre asked softly as he dropped his hand on Harry's shoulder to get his attention.

"As much as I can."

"You do realize that they probably intentionally leaked the information regarding their capture to lure you here so they could capture you in turn, right?"

"I know, Quatre. I also know that none of the other pilots in the resistance would have had a snowball's chance in hell to get in and out without getting caught. Duo should have but he obviously ran into trouble at some point otherwise he'd not have been caught as well. Knowing Duo, he probably went in with his guns blazing instead of being sneaky about it."

Harry gave Quatre a brief hug before pressing the first aide kit into his hands; the blonde pilot would be staying to watch over the shuttle and take care of those that were transported to the shuttle via portkey. Harry then checked to make certain his helmet was on correctly before he slipped out into the cargo bay where Wufei was standing on the short ramp leading into Dogstar's cockpit.

Harry activated the controls that would depressurize the bay and allow them to exit the shuttle and waited for the cargo bay doors to open as Wufei entered the suit. Once the doors were open far enough, Harry used a weak levitation spell to guide the suit out of the cargo bay before he resized Rockstar so that Quatre could use his suit to escape in the event the shuttle became compromised.

Harry made his way out of the cargo bay and gave himself a gentle push towards his hovering suit. Once inside, he quickly closed the door before sliding into his seat. He then activated the various internal systems and the external sensors and scanners before entering stealth mode as he switched over to flight mode and headed towards the Lunar Base. He cruised around the base for ten minutes, allowing Dogstar time to thoroughly scan the entire base before he returned to suit mode and landed over an empty missile silo at the farthest edges of the base. Keeling the suit down, Harry had Dogstar carefully brush away the moon dirt covering the silo doors.

"That's good, Taliesin, I can see the control panel. If you'll cover me with the usual stealth spells, I'll go open the doors and catch a ride down on Dogstar's back once you steer him inside of the silo," Wufei stated as he leaned forward in his seat.

"I'll deactivate the invisibility booster for ten seconds once I get below the rim of the silo so you can see Dogstar long enough to know we're in and see where to land."

Harry checked the gauges that were linked to the conditions inside of the suit before he pulled off the glove over his right hand and turned to cast the Disillusionment Charm and a temperature regulation charm on Wufei so that he would be invisible to both visual and heat sensors while he was down on the surface and vulnerable. Harry then applied the same spells to himself (so he wouldn't have to worry about hiding himself later) before he tucked his wand back into the built in holster he'd added to the glove that covered his right hand (specially designed to allow for wand to skin contact along his arm for when he needed to cast spells while in his spacesuit).

Preparations complete, he replaced his suit glove and turned off Dogstar's life support system and the artificial gravity so he could open the door for Wufei. He waited until he saw the tiny gray dot that represented his unseen brother appear on the map grid before he closed the door.

Eight minutes later, he watched the door to the silo open to reveal the darkened missile tunnel below and he pulled Dogstar into a standing position as he waited for the doors to open wide enough for him to slip inside. It wasn't long before he was slowly sinking below the rim of the open silo, taking his time so as not to stir up any dust needlessly or catch Dogstar on the doors. A loud beep indicated that he was completely below the surface and he quickly reached over to briefly interrupt the invisibility booster to signal his position to Wufei. The external scanners showed the doors sliding shut once more just as a light clang rang through the suit; an indication that Wufei had landed on the back of Dogstar.

His suit was soon touching the ground at the bottom of the missile shaft and Wufei's voice floated across the radio as he announced that he was going to open the doors to get them inside of the base. While Wufei was doing that, Harry tucked Dragonstar into his rucksack (Wufei's suit would be restored to full size and left in the empty silo so Wufei had a way to escape should things go wrong) and made certain he had everything he would need to complete every aspect of the mission. By the time he finished that, the large bay doors leading into the base had opened and he crouched down to slip inside before he opened the door to the cockpit and dropped down out of the suit so he could set up Dragonstar.

"Dragonstar has been restored and temporarily stuck to the side of the silo directly to the left of the door with the stealth mode fully activated," Harry announced five minutes later so that Wufei would know how to find his suit. "I'm heading back to shrink Dogstar down now."

"_Roger that, Taliesin._"

Suiting actions to words, Harry quickly shrank his suit and tucked it into his rucksack as Wufei closed the silo doors and waited for the room to pressurize before they both headed into the main part of the base. The door to the silo's pressure chamber had barely closed behind them when the entire room they'd entered was suddenly flooded with OZ soldiers. The two of them quickly split up at that point and circled around the edge of the room, keeping low and moving slowly despite being invisible, as the soldiers searched the room for intruders.

The presence of the soldiers wasn't completely unexpected as they'd expected their entrance to have triggered an alarm either when they first opened the outer door or when they opened the inner doors leading to the silo. When the soldiers finally left (after checking the silo and the surface door), Harry and Wufei tagged along for several minutes before splitting up; Wufei to take control of the base's security cameras so he could search for each of their objectives and so he could loop the security footage in various locations and Harry to start setting up the various pranks that would be used to create distractions throughout the base.

Harry's first targets were the occupied missile silos in order to sabotage the missiles to prevent them from being used once they finished the mission and were ready to pull out. That involved visiting each of the silos to disarm each missile with a weakly cast stunning spell, sealing the doors that led into the silo shaft with fast acting magical glue and spells, and setting off a dung bomb in each of the pressure chambers that acted as a buffer between the base and the silos.

It took eighteen hours to deal with all of the missiles and Harry was starting to feel tired from the numerous spells he'd cast in combination to constantly being on the move for most of that time. That was on top of the many hours he'd put in on his most recent mission but he couldn't bring himself to rest knowing that his brothers were currently in the hands of Une and Zechs. Knowing Zechs was involved was bad enough but knowing Heero and Trowa had been at Une's mercy both frightened and angered him as he well recalled just how cold and cruel she could be.

Shaking off his exhaustion and circling thoughts, Harry headed up to the control tower. He spent the next half hour checking in with Wufei to let him know that phase one of the distraction had been set and to recast the stealth spells on the teen since they were starting to wear off. He then checked in with Quatre to make certain the blonde hadn't had any problems before he started on phase two; which would involve him setting up a series of Wet-Start No-Heat Fireworks in the drains of all the showers in the barracks and throwing Frogspawn soap into the toilets.

Before he headed back out, he learned that two of the three captured suits were in one of the research labs while the third was currently out in space where they were preparing to determine what it would take to destroy the suit. Harry cursed over that information because that was the very last thing he wanted OZ to discover. Quatre was heading out to retrieve the suit in the shuttle and Harry felt a thread of worry snake through him but knew that the blonde was the only one currently in a position to do something to retrieve the suit. Harry wished the blonde luck and reminded him to return the shuttle to the exact same location if at all possible (so the portkeys would still be accurate).

Putting Quatre's side mission out of his thoughts, Harry set out to start rigging the fireworks before he headed up to the first level in order to sneak into the kitchen where he'd be planting Hiccough Sweats, Belch Powder, and over the counter laxatives into the food stores. Stink pellets were casually tossed into the vents on the first floor and more dungbombs were set off in random storage rooms and empty offices. He then headed back down to the second level and followed the directions Wufei had given him to locate the two confiscated suits they knew were being kept inside of the base in order to remove them from OZ's hands.

He found them in a large room surrounded by dozens of guards along with two of the five missing scientists. He also found Zechs supervising from the observation deck that wrapped around the outside of the room about halfway up the wall. Harry stopped and stared at the masked man for five long minutes as he recalled each visit the man had made to his cell during his two months of imprisonment. Shaking off the less than pleasant memories, Harry spent the next several minutes debating on whether or not he should grab the suits now or come back for them later when there was less of a chance of being caught in the act.

He had almost convinced himself to come back later when he discovered that the scientists were trying to get around the wards on the suit and while he didn't think they would be successful he also didn't want to give them too much time in case they did find a way around them. Mind made up, Harry carefully reapplied the stealth spells he'd cast on himself earlier. That included taking the time to add a silencing ward so that no one would hear him breathe or hear his radio if Wufei or Quatre contacted him while he was in close proximity to the soldiers. The last thing he did was apply a Notice-Me-Not charm his rucksack.

He then crept closer to the door leading into the lab and waited a tense seventeen minutes for one of the soldiers inside to exit the room at which point he slipped in through the open door and carefully wove his way around to where the two scientists were currently arguing beside Deathstar. Placing his right hand on Duo's suit, Harry waited for the two scientists to finish their argument and make another attempt to bypass the ward. This happened when the one with a beak-like nose and poufy, bowl cut hair threw a wrench at the suit in frustration.

As the wrench bounced off the suit, Harry cast a shrinking spell to reduce Deathstar to a more manageable size before casting a Disillusionment Charm and a Feather Light charm immediately afterwards so that the suit appeared to shrink down and disappear completely. Harry then lifted the suit from the ground and tucked it into his rucksack. Harry about laughed his ass off at the chaos that unfolded in the wake of the suit disappearing as the scientists began yelling at each other, the soldiers began rushing forward all at once so fast that they crashed into each other, and Zechs began bellowing out questions and orders over the rest of the madness.

The two scientists were dragged from the room just a few minutes later while the soldiers were told to spread out and search the entire room. Order had nearly been restored when Harry moved over to Superstar, tossed out a couple of smoke bombs that exploded upon impact, and quickly used the renewed confusion to shrink, lighten, and store Trowa's suit. The soldiers reacted a bit more violently once the smoke cleared and it was discovered that the second suit had also vanished; firing their guns in a single barrage that cut through most of the room.

Harry barely dropped down to the floor before he'd been riddled with bullet holes and he swallowed thickly as the pinging of ricocheting bullets filled the room for two long minutes before silence returned. Harry then had to scramble out of the way as the soldiers began searching the room a second time. As Harry stood pressed up against the wall waiting for someone to leave the room so he could sneak out, Quatre's voice drifted across the radio informing them that he'd successfully retrieved Northstar and would return to the moon in fifteen minutes.

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief that his brother had completed the mission safely and sagged back against the wall. He then asked Wufei to confirm the location of the other three pilots and all five of the scientists. Wufei was just replying with the answer when Zechs stormed by Harry's position as he yelled at the soldiers to tear every inch of the room apart in order to find those suits before he yanked the door open and strode out. Harry hesitated for a brief instant before he ducked out after his part time stalker; least he not get another opportunity to exit the room.

He felt more than a little apprehensive when he realized that Zechs was heading down to the lower level since that was where the prison cells were located and where Harry himself had been headed. After a brief internal struggle, Harry chose to follow the man in the hopes that he would lead him straight to his brothers. They had just reached the lift when an out of breath soldier rushed up to the man and informed him that Une had just called the base to report the loss of the suit they'd been attempting to destroy. Harry couldn't help but snicker as the masked man cursed up a blue streak before practically bashing the buttons for the lift as he issued a string of orders for the soldier to relay to various officers around the base.

Harry then swallowed his mirth as he reluctantly followed Zechs into the elevator when the doors opened; his palms sweating in his nervousness as he was now virtually trapped in the small room with the man. His predicament was made even worse when Zechs began pacing in agitation, nearly catching Harry once or twice with an out thrown arm as the man continued to rant and mutter beneath his breath.

The elevator couldn't move fast enough for Harry when they finally stopped on the lowest level and he forced himself through the automatic door as soon as it was wide enough for his helmet to pass through without scraping the sides in an effort to put some distance between him and Zechs. The winged wizard stood to one side to give himself a few minutes to get his emotions back under control and let Zechs move off down the hallway in order put some distance in between them before he began following the man once more.

The man led him right to the door of the cell that held all three of his captive brothers and Harry smirked briefly over the irony. He then scowled because it appeared that his masked nemesis was going to interrogate the three teens about the now missing suits for who knew how long. He contemplated slipping into the cell through the partially open door but in the end decided against it because he ran the risk of getting himself caught if he did something so stupid. Taking off his right glove, Harry slipped his wand out from his holster in order to maintain better control over his magic if he needed to use it to take out Zechs.

He then crouched down across from the door to wait for Zechs to leave since he already knew that the scientists were one floor up working on the Gundams that would need to be destroyed. To help pass the time, he contacted Quatre to find out if he'd landed back on the moon yet and once it was confirmed that, yes, the shuttle was back on the surface, he activated one of the card portkeys and asked Quatre to verify that the card had ended up in the center of the blood seal that had been set into the open area between the cockpit and the passenger section. By the time that small test had been complete several minutes had passed and Harry once again felt in control of his fears as he settled back to wait.

He didn't have to wait for very long as he'd barely been waiting for another seven minutes when Zechs stormed out of the cell in an even fouler mood than he had been after the disappearance of the two Star Suits. Moving quickly, Harry darted into the cell the moment Zechs cleared the door and just before the door started shutting automatically. He quickly let Wufei know he'd made it into the room and asked him to loop the cameras in five minutes. Harry then took a good look at the three pilots that had been captured and he felt his anger spike when he noted that all three of his brothers appeared to have been slapped around a bit; their faces and arms covered with partially healed cuts and bruises.

The moment Wufei let him know the cameras had been dealt with; Harry tucked a portkey card into each of his brother's pockets and activated them without saying a word. He normally would have let them know he was there but he was still feeling slightly agitated by the condition he'd found them in and he was in no mood to listen to them argue about his having come to rescue them. He especially didn't want Heero to invoke his oath in order to demand that Harry leave before the mission was complete or worse, order Harry to allow the three of them to help him. Harry was so focused on getting them out of there that he never noticed the looks of dawning horror on the three teens' faces as they disappeared one by one in a rapid succession of blue and gold swirls of magic.

"All clear, Wufei; I just need you to let me out and reactivate the real time surveillance in their cells," Harry declared softly as he made certain his stealth spells were still active. "Quatre, please confirm arrival of all three pilots."

"_We made it just fine, kiddo, but da two of ya have ta get out of there right now!_" Duo answered in place of Quatre. "_Zechs already knows you're there; it's a trap! Ya have ta get out._"

"_I'm opening the door now, Taliesin,_" Wufei replied even as the door slid open. "_I've already destroyed all of the digital blueprints for both Gundams and will loop the cameras in the lab where they are working on the two suits and in the missile silo through which we entered before I leave._"

"We anticipated the likelihood of your presence here on the moon being a trap, Duo. Wufei, be careful once you leave the control tower; the stealth spells I placed on you will not last much longer. I'm heading up to collect the scientists and to destroy the two new Gundams they created now."

Harry ignored Duo's curses as Quatre reclaimed the radio and kicked the other teens out of the cockpit of the shuttle (the blonde well aware of how important it was that this mission was completed in full). He took a moment to rig the prison cell with a few pranks (setting up several wet start no heat fireworks to go off the moment anyone walked into the cell as well as rigging two dungbombs onto a couple of exploding luminous balloons that would be triggered the moment the balloons exploded). Harry then headed back up to the second floor so he could finish the mission and get the hell out of there as he felt his exhaustion weighing down on him again.

He'd not even reached the elevator when all hell broke loose as an alarm sounded throughout the entire base as their rescue of the three pilots was discovered far sooner than it should have been. A series of loud crashes signified the lowest level of the base being sealed off from the upper two levels and Harry let out a string of curses as he put away his wand, replaced his right glove, and activated his spacesuit's life support system in case they shut off the oxygen to the third floor. He then spun around and headed back towards the other, less used elevator back near the storerooms in the hopes that he could bypass the locks and climb up the shaft.

He didn't take more than ten steps when things went from bad to worse as the antiquated fire sprinkler system built into the ceilings of the base spluttered into life and rained down a veritable flood of florescent green, glow in the dark paint from the ceiling. It was only a matter of seconds before Harry was covered from head to foot in the wet paint which effectively negated his disillusionment charm. The sprinklers shut off just seconds later along with the blaring alarm and Harry grew apprehensive as he heard the lock-down being lifted and he knew that the entire floor would soon be flooded with soldiers.

Cursing his rotten luck, Harry wiped the front of his helmet clear of paint so he could before he withdrew one the pistols he carried on him, undid the safety, and quickly made certain it was fully loaded without slowing down or stopping. He was just turning the corner when he came face to face with the first group of soldiers and he fired off several shots before ducking back into the hallway he'd just exited. It didn't take long for the soldiers to give chase and Harry soon found himself running pell-mell through the corridors of the prison level dodging bullets and the blasts of beam pistols while returning fire every chance he got; reloading his pistol each time he emptied the clip.

As he ran, he ordered Seth to move into the expanded pocket he'd added to the glove he wore on his right arm since he feared the snake might be injured if he couldn't dodge all of the bullets and the wards on the suit could only protect him from so much. He lost his rucksack not long after that when he tripped over a dead soldier as they kept chasing him in circles and he cursed himself for a fool as he recalled that the bag held his extra portkeys and that he could have taken one of them to escape long before he was spotted. Harry had no time to reclaim the bag though as his pursuers got a little too close for comfort and he was forced to leave it and the escape it represented behind.

Unfortunately, the exchange of gunfire and the shouts of the injured soldiers only drew more soldiers to his location like flies to honey and it wasn't long before he was trapped in the middle of a hallway by two different groups. Unwilling to give up, Harry pulled out a second pistol, danced back so that his back was pressed against the wall, and began firing into both groups at the same time.

He was a sitting duck though and it wasn't long before he was hit by several bullets and more than one burning blast of energy; the sheer volume of weapon fire eventually overwhelmed the protective wards he'd woven into his spacesuit. The last of his luck ran out when he spent his last bullet and before he could reload either pistol he was swarmed by the soldiers. As their weight bore him heavily to the ground, Harry struggled as best he could against his captors as he finally began feeling the pain of his numerous wounds. Between the pain and exhaustion it was all Harry could do to remain conscious.

Half a minute later, he was pulled back up onto his feet as Zechs finally made an appearance. His radio crackled to life as Wufei and Quatre were both demanding to know what was happening but before he could give them an answer, Zechs reached out and pulled the helmet from Harry's head.

"You are one difficult child to track down, son," Zechs declared as he reached out and gently wiped away the trickle of blood that ran from the corner of Harry's mouth.

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**AN:** _Yet another busy chapter for our boys. And we got to see some of the farther reaching effects that the change in the New Edwards Base mission had on the direction the war has taken; this being an actual resistance forming out in space instead of the Gundams all fighting and infiltrating separately. Harry's also interacting more with other people outside of the pilots. _

_Some of you might be angry with me for not letting Harry escape at the end or for him getting shot for a third time but I at least made him go down fighting and he put up a much better fight than he had when I originally wrote the chapter. He was also exhausted, knew his mission wasn't complete, and limited on what he could use of his magic because he is out in space and making a mistake would cost lives. He could have used a portkey to get out and then sneak back in later but he'd panicked as the trap had been far more elaborate than expected (not surprising because I never saw Zechs as being a stupid man) and he'd actually not been thinking clearly because of his panic and his exhaustion since he hadn't slept in a couple of days because of his need to push himself to save his brothers._

_Canon Lunar Base… I just re-watched the episodes surrounding Heero and Duo's infiltration of the Lunar Base and realized I'd completely forgotten that the moon had also been a tourist attraction that had been reopened shortly after OZ had taken their presence out into space. Instead of trying to completely rewrite this section to include that; I' left the Lunar Base as strictly military because OZ's take over hadn't been as complete as it was in the anime/manga due to the ripples created by Harry's presence. So, no moon theme park or resort this time around. _

_And, obviously, Trowa didn't infiltrate OZ this time around (not that he could have done that successfully this time anyway because they already knew his face thanks to his earlier capture by Treize). Trowa also took Wufei's place as the second pilot captured while Duo was still the first one to break in after the two pilots had been caught (though this time he was looking to free the other pilots and the scientists; not kill them). _

_So, anyway, next chapter (no. 25) will have the promised glimpse of Zechs' thoughts and feelings as well as the fallout from Harry's second capture. In the mean time, while you wait, feel free to help yourself to the peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies I made for all of my readers/reviewers. Or if you prefer, I have donuts too. =) ~ Jenn_


	26. Isn't, Wasn't, and Wouldn't

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 25: The Father that Isn't, Wasn't, and Wouldn't

Zechs Merquise (born as Milliardo Peacecraft) had been a man long driven by his need to avenge the murder of his parents and the sacking of the Sanc Kingdom. He'd donned his mask to hide both his true identity and his emotions as he turned his back on his family's belief in total pacifism in order to obtain his revenge. By the time the five Gundams had been sent to Earth in order to fight against OZ and the Alliance, Zechs believed that there was no room for warmth or compassion in his war-hardened heart.

His first encounter with the Gundam Wing over the Pacific Ocean started out as just another assignment right up until the sunken Gundam and his modified Leo vanished without a trace. He was curious as to how the pilot had both managed to survive and recover the two suits in less than twenty-four hours when he knew they had been damaged during the short battle and undoubtedly further damaged upon impact with the ocean. The man had seen pictures of the various bases around the world that had been attacked by the elusive Gundams but wouldn't see the destructive power of a Gundam first hand until a different suit attacked the Lake Victoria Base in Africa and destroyed the prototype Taurus suits roughly forty-eight hours after his first encounter.

When a second Gundam suit vanished in the same general location as the first one just two days later it signaled the start of a growing obsession as Zechs first began actively hunting for any sign of the two missing Gundams and then began hunting for a mobile suit that could fight with the Gundams on an even footing. Just over a week later, the last three Gundams had turned up in the location where the first two had disappeared and proceeded to systematically destroy the troops they had patrolling the area. When Zechs had shown up twenty-five minutes later with reinforcements, it was to find that the two missing Gundams had apparently been hiding in the area and he hoped to get his hands on the suits and their pilots only for all five Gundams to make a clean escape with the help of a small rebel faction.

Thinking that there might be a hidden base in the area and that they might yet again return to claim anything left behind, Zechs continued to patrol the area for the next week before he was ordered to carry out a handful of other missions. Ten days after leaving the area, he received the news that two of the Gundams had returned to that same stretch of beach. Once again, by the time he arrived with reinforcements the battle was pretty much over and the Gundams were retreating.

Only this time they'd encountered someone who had a weapon that could destroy a mobile suit with a single shot (an unidentified weapon that wasn't linked to one of the Gundam suits). The few videos and photos that were taken during the short battle were both vague and blurry but in one Zechs could make out what looked like a young child standing on the back of some kind of personal craft. That same night Relena Darlian was supposedly killed by terrorists and a second picture of what almost looked like the same child appeared; though Zechs would not see that photo until long after he'd met the child in question.

Zechs actually put the child (and his unacknowledged grief over the death of his sister) from his mind as he worked to repair the Tallgeese suit he'd retrieved from out of the ruins of the Corsica Base.

The failed assassination of the Alliance officials at New Edwards Base followed by the less than successful take over of the Alliance bases around the world (including a failed attempt to liberate the Sanc Kingdom) occupied Zechs' mind right up until Lady Une set up a trap in order to capture or destroy the Gundams. Zechs actually looked forward to testing the Tallgeese against the pilot of the Gundam that he'd battled but for a brief moment the day the Gundams fell from the sky. When confirmation came that the suit he'd faced in battle previously had appeared over the air route of the false transport, Zechs had headed towards what he thought would be a defining moment in his life.

And in a way it was; though it in no way ended the way he thought and at one point hoped it would.

The battle between the Tallgeese and the Gundam Wing went as expected, though Zechs had been more than a little surprised and confused to find that it was far harder to inflict damage on the other suit than it had been the first time he encountered the Gundam. It was after Lady Une interrupted the battle to deliver her threat that Zechs received a jolt of shock and things became even more confusing for the not quite twenty year old. The moment he saw that child step out of the cockpit of the Gundam he'd been fighting Zechs had been pole-axed by sheer disbelief.

When said child then went on to activate the self-destruct sequence in response to Une's threat, Zechs' heart screeched to a halt even as the explosion that followed shook the ground and showered his suit with debris. That the child's body had survived the explosion in one piece had been a surprise and Zechs had exited his suit (after discovering that the suit's systems had been completely fried) and approached the child's body with the vague idea that he needed to give the child a proper burial.

As he stared down at the broken body, the only question running through Zechs' mind had been; why? Why would a child be piloting a suit, why would a child feel the need to fight, and why (oh why) would a child throw away his life in such a terrible way. He must have spoken out loud at some point because to his shock the child had opened pain-filled emerald eyes that burned with a mixture of fear, hate, and anger and glared up at Zechs as he rasped out a broken response that would haunt Zechs for a long time.

_Someone like you couldn't possibly understand._

Another Gundam had lifted the broken child from the ground shortly after that (nearly stomping on him in the process) and Zechs could only stare after the retreating suit in utter disbelief as he tried to understand exactly what had just happened. Zechs had changed that day; something inside of him had been shaken loose by the child pilot and he floundered under the feeling of guilt that ate at him over the knowledge that if the kid had not self-destructed and if Une had not interfered he would have tried his damnedest to kill the child first.

It was not a pleasant realization and Zechs found himself praying for the first time in years. Praying that the child had survived, praying that he could find the child once more, and praying that he could one day understand that which the child had claimed he never would. He hunted for any trace of the child for close to five weeks before he finally allowed Treize to order him back to Luxembourg though it was with an empty and paradoxically heavy heart that he complied.

Imagine his surprise when he came face to face with the face that haunted his memory and his dreams shortly after landing at the Luxembourg airport on a circus flyer. The child's hair had been bleached and styled differently and he was obviously wearing a colored contact but there was no mistaking that jagged scar upon his brow. It hadn't taken much to get a disgruntled circus worker to provide photographs of the youngest Sibling of the Knife and any doubts Zechs might have had about the kid being the one he was looking for disappeared in an instant when he saw the picture of the kid without the changes to his appearance wearing two casts while boldly standing inside of a snake cage with a huge python.

Zechs attended four different shows in order to watch the boy perform over the course of the next several days. The first time he'd seen the kid perform he'd been shocked, stunned, and terrified in turns as he watched the boy play with the knives while hundreds of deadly and dangerous snakes literally swarmed all over him. He'd grown angry that the two older teens allowed such a young boy to take part in such a dangerous act let alone allowed him to pilot a suit and in that instant Zechs decided that the boy needed a proper roll model because he obviously didn't have any regard for his own life. Treize had gladly helped him to bribe the ringmaster of the circus to arrange for a private performance and make plans to take the child into custody.

Never did any of them expect the kid to be happy to be taken from his supposed family but neither did they expect the kid to retaliate with the level of sheer violence that he had. It was like the child had multiple personalities; the awed and excited tourist, the dedicated and talented actor, an over-exhausted child, the calm and composed high-class dinner guest, the shy child afraid of being scolded, the belligerent, foul mouthed brat, and then the wild animal seeking escape. The next day had revealed even more sides to the troublesome child-pilot; the clever vandal, the calculating soldier, the cold hearted murderer, the distraught little brother, the mistrusting and paranoid captive, and finally the empty robotic shell.

Zechs had barely kept up with the kid's many mood swings and keeping up with him physically hadn't exactly been a walk in the park either. He had been the only one not caught off guard by the boy choosing to stay in the dungeons as opposed to being treated like a guest. What he hadn't expected was for the kid to completely flip out after Treize announced that it would be Zechs taking charge of the kid. Nor had he expected him to go into shock once he'd been caught and strip searched for any more weapons.

He had actually expected the child to cuss and curse up a storm and fight them every step of the way and when he didn't behave as expected, it made Zechs wonder what the child had experienced in his short life. It wouldn't be until after he spent about a week analyzing the video footage of the scene in Treize's office and later during the boy's second escape attempt, that Zechs attributed the child's shock to the death of what must have been his treasured pets in combination with the mild concussion he'd received when Une had tossed him into the window.

Two days; that was how long it had taken for the child to return to reality. Once he did, the kid began playing mind games with the guards and confusing the hell out of those watching the security cameras as he pulled clothes, food, a deck of cards, and other various items out of seemingly thin air. Zechs himself had been disturbed more than once by the kid's reactions to his attempts to convince the child to cooperate with Treize; the memory of his insane laughter that first visit still haunted Zechs' dreams. Zechs also couldn't help but be impressed at the kid's ability to cope with the solitary confinement when Zechs had known grown men to crack after the first week of solitude.

He suspected that the kid probably could have lasted for several more months if not for the inference of Une. Zechs had never much cared for Une or her ruthlessness and he'd nearly shot the woman himself after he learned that she'd fully intended to have a trio of the guards rape the kid in order to break him. He too had noted the kid's aversion to physical contact after watching him for two months, it was fairly obvious to see that someone had abused or misused the boy at some point.

It easily explained the kid's many personalities too; since the kid would have needed some way to deal with whatever had happened to him. That Une had attempted to use that same knowledge against the kid had been unacceptable to Zechs and he'd gotten into a yelling match with Treize over her actions that night; something that had never happened before. He didn't quite quit OZ at that point but Zechs did storm out of the damaged castle as he once again began hunting for the child that stirred his heart.

Lucrezia Noin, devoted as she was to Zechs, had followed him as he desperately hunted through orphanages, circuses, and known criminal haunts throughout Europe and Asia in an effort to find the child. He suspected the other four Gundam pilots had helped the boy escape but because the castle's security had been knocked off-line they had no proof since there had been no eye witnesses left alive that had seen the boy escape. Lucrezia tried to talk him into giving up his obsession but he'd ended up sending her up to the colonies in order to track down and protect his younger sister after learning that Une was taking political refugees into custody after Treize had sent the woman into space following the aftermath of the destruction of the Luxembourg Castle (his guilt over not protecting her earlier prompting him to rectify the matter).

Zechs, in the mean time, continued his efforts to hunt down his missing ward. When he learned of the strange and untraceable thefts that were occurring at OZ bases around the world; he soon came to the conclusion that the Gundams were planning to return to space. Knowing that, Zechs thought it would be a simple matter to confront them the moment they left Earth's atmosphere and bring the child back into his care. He'd made plans and headed out into space as soon as he could and waited for an unauthorized shuttle to exit the atmosphere.

He pounced on the shuttle just minutes after it broke free of the Earth's atmosphere, only to see said shuttle vanish right before his eyes within minutes of hailing the pilot of the craft with instructions to dock the shuttle at a nearby space station (so that he could search the ship for the kid and potentially take the other pilots into custody). Frustrated, Zechs settled himself into place as the commanding officer of the Lunar Base so he would not have to deal with Lady Une on a regular basis and so he could oversee the construction of the new Gundams that Une had bullied the Gundam scientists into creating to counter the Gundam suits on earth.

Two weeks after taking command of the Lunar Base, Zechs finally had his first clue as to where the pilots might have vanished to only for them to seemingly be killed when a stolen manufacturing satellite had been destroyed by the colony from which it had been stolen. Zechs had long since stopped believing that the Gundam pilots could be so easily killed though and merely waited for their next move. He was rewarded for his patience when various political prisoners began disappearing from their cells without a trace and without any obvious rescue teams breaking into the facilities. Then more equipment began to go missing.

Eventually, the Star Suits began making appearances; suits that were just as hard to damage as the Gundams had been during the ambush that Une had executed. Suits that were piloted by individuals that pulled off unbelievable stunts that would have killed any other pilot in any other suit. One pilot stood out above the other five though; that of the suit designated as Dogstar. Video footage of the pilot pulling death defying stunts at the drop of a hat or engaging in battles where the odds were stacked against him reminded Zechs of the kid juggling a dozen or more knives while allowing hundreds of deadly snakes to crawl all over him; the pilot even had customized knives that his suit could throw.

Zechs just knew that the pilot of the Dogstar was the kid that had awoken his parental instinct to nurture and protect; feelings that Zechs had been feeling ever since he'd stood over the broken child after the self-destruction of the Gundam Wing (though he hadn't recognized them for what they were until after he'd first seen the child perform). Zechs spent the next month and a half creating the perfect trap in which to capture the kid he believed needed his guidance and all he needed was the right bait. To his shock said bait fell into his lap when Lady Une unexpectedly captured two of the Star Pilots and their suits when they tried to steal OZ's new battleship.

He'd then fought for sixteen hours to get at least one of the suits and both pilots turned over to him. He was doubly glad he'd insisted on taking charge of the two men when he recognized the green eyed pilot as the kid's supposed older brother; especially after he'd noted that Une had allowed her soldiers to rough the two teens up a bit. Dealing with the suit Une grudgingly let him take proved to be a bigger headache than he wanted but he needed to have it broken down so he could find its weaknesses only to find that no one could touch it without getting electrocuted, bar the two pilots.

Once he had both pilots and the suit safely on base (something that had taken more than a little ingenuity), Zechs leaked the news of their capture in order to lure his intended prey into trying to free them. Eighteen hours after the information was leaked, his trap was sprung by another of the Star Pilots but not the one he really wanted to catch and so he reset the trap in the hopes that the next one to turn up would be Dogstar's pilot. He'd begun to think the kid wasn't going to show until the news that the kid had just helped destroy one of the larger holding stations for the mobile dolls being shipped to space from Earth reached him.

He figured it was only a matter of time before the kid learned of the captures as he'd obviously not been keeping track of the news while executing his mission. The seeming malfunction of one of the silo doors barely a day after the destruction of that station let Zechs know his trap had drawn another target. He hadn't been certain he'd drawn the right target at first and even began doubting that the malfunction had indeed been someone infiltrating the base until the reports of impossible pranks going off all over the base and of soldiers falling inexplicably ill after eating in the cafeteria over the roughly eighteen hours after the malfunction. Further confirmation came when the two Star Suits had vanished right in front of his eyes almost twenty-four hours after the malfunction.

He knew then that the kid was on the base and looking for his brother and the other two pilots because he'd never met another that could manipulate objects quite like the kid could. He began doubting his conviction when he'd learned that the third suit, the one he'd left with Une to keep her off his back about taking charge of all three pilots, vanished nearly at the same time as the two that disappeared from his lab. He'd gone down to check on the imprisoned pilots and after the shock of finding them still in their cell (he'd expected the child to have gone after them first, after all) he'd spent several minutes interrogating the teens before returning to his office.

Not more than ten minutes after leaving the third level, the base's alarms were triggered as one of the guards discovered that the three pilots had vanished from their cells in the blink of an eye. The kid had taken the bait and now Zechs found himself scrambling to spring the trap before the kid could pull his disappearing act. He'd watched the unfolding battle with unwavering fascination and a growing since of dread when he realized that the kid was fighting alone; the other three pilots had vanished completely. Zechs had immediately reissued his order to take the kid alive; not wanting the child to be killed when he was so close to being taken into custody once more.

He'd then began making his way down to the lowest level when it became clear that the kid would soon be trapped so he could be on hand the moment he was captured. A large part of him disliked the fact that he'd needed to employ the use of excessive force in order to prevent the kid from fighting his way free or vanishing like the three pilots had (he really needed to know how they did that) but he wasn't about to allow the kid to escape yet again.

When he arrived in the corridor where the boy had been cornered, he'd been blindsided with a jolt of guilt the moment he saw how badly the kid had been wounded. He brushed the feeling away though as he recalled just how many wounded, dying, and dead soldiers the boy had left in his wake during the twenty minute chase. At least he'd made certain that those taking part in the trap knew not to fire any lethal shots because he'd have been more than a little upset if one of them had killed the child. Stepping up to the wounded and paint covered kid; Zechs removed the kid's helmet and was met by an almost familiar face and pain-filled mismatched eyes.

"You are one difficult child to track down, son," Zechs declared almost fondly as he reached out and wiped away the blood trickling down the boy's chin from his mouth.

"Fuck you," was the kid's response before he attempted to spit in Zechs' face; the older man simply shifting out of the way to avoid being hit.

"Still as foul mouthed as ever I see," Zechs mused as he reached up further to brush the hair away from the kid's sweaty brow; absently noting the dark smudges beneath the kid's eyes that hinted at the kid having pushed himself to exhaustion in his efforts to rescue the other pilots. "And still the same ragged scar adorning your brow." Zechs then stepped back as he signaled to the two soldiers holding the kid. "Get him up to the infirmary and get him striped out of that space suit so his injuries can be treated. Make certain you search him for any knives or guns and that you watch out for venomous snakes; though I doubt any snake would have lasted very long out here in space."

"Keep your filthy hands to yourself you disgusting maggot infested toads."

Zechs watched as the kid was dragged towards the lift; the kid fighting the soldiers despite the fact that he had to be in a considerable amount of pain from his multiple gunshot wounds on top of the exhaustion. Zechs sighed and stepped forward to knock the kid on the back of the head in order to knock him out so that he didn't cause any further damage to himself. He left the rest of the soldiers to collect the dead and wounded soldiers spread throughout the entire lower level as he followed along behind the two carrying the kid to the infirmary in order to be on hand should the kid wake up before they could treat his injuries and try to make a break for it. The sound of voices coming from the helmet in his hand drew Zechs' attention for a moment as he listened to their frantic calls before answering back.

"_Taliesin? Taliesin, what is happening? Taliesin!_"

"_Taliesin, this is Heero, you need to get the hell out of there now! Do you hear me, Taliesin? Taliesin, answer me damn it! Taliesin…? Harry…? Damn it, Harry, say something!_"

"This is Zechs Merquise; you have exactly twenty-four hours in which to give yourselves up if you wish for the child to remain unharmed," Zechs stated as he activated the radio in the helmet. "If, at the end of twenty-four hours all five of the remaining Star Pilots have not surrendered, we will publicly execute the one you call Taliesin Bard as an example to the Resistance."

A chorus of curses and insults rose from the radio connection but Zechs didn't bother to listen, simply shutting off the radio off before he tucked the helmet beneath his arm; he could get rid of it and the ruined spacesuit the child was wearing later. The one named Heero had just offered up another confirmation that Zechs had caught the correct kid as he recalled the boy going by the name Harry when he'd been with the circus. He wondered which of the three names he'd used at some point was the kids real name though; Harry Barton, James Black (a name he'd learned through Lucrezia Noin after he'd sent her to protect his little sister), or Taliesin Bard.

They reached the infirmary at that point and after depositing the kid on a bed the two soldiers proceeded to strip the spacesuit from the boy; which needed to cut free from the kid because of his injuries. Zechs winced when he noted the extent of the damage done from both the bullets and the energy blasts. And the amount of blood the kid had lost couldn't be good; both the spacesuit and the kid's clothes were utterly soaked. Zechs soon forgot about the kid's injuries though when he noticed the changes the kid had gone through in the five or so months since he'd last seen him.

First, the kid was several inches taller, had lost a considerable amount of weight (to the point where he looked fairly gaunt), and his black hair had red highlights that he imagined would bring out the blues and greens of his eyes. The first word that sprang to mind when looking at the boy was delicate and the second one was tragic when one took in the blood soaking through his clothes and pooling on the bed beneath him. Of course, his new look or quite possibly his old look might have been an illusion (not counting the very real injuries). He definitely didn't look quite so young and helpless now and that bothered Zechs more than he cared to admit.

"Get him out of those clothes and one of you track down one of the doctors; he needs to be stitched up before he bleeds to death."

Zechs had barely finished issuing the order when one of the doctors had turned up to find out what the commotion was. That was about the same time they'd just finished cutting the two shirts from the kid's back, only for the biggest shock of all to reveal itself.

_Wings? Where the hell did those come from? And how the hell has he been hiding them?_ Zechs wondered to himself as he stared at the metallic looking black and green, feathery scaled wings as the doctor set about treating the boy's many injuries.

He thought maybe it was more genetic engineering but he knew of no way that wings could be grafted onto someone's back without there being scars or how they could give the wings body heat and a blood supply. In the end, it was just yet another thing he needed to ask the child.

* * *

Harry groaned as he finally felt reality pull him back out of his mindscape and felt the pain of his injuries slam into him with a vengeance. Worse yet, he could feel something binding his wings tightly on top of his own slight weight bearing down on them and the physical pain of restriction coupled with the intangible pain that restriction inflicted upon his core and his soul burned. He struggled to reach back in order to free his wings to ease the pain only to find that he'd been strapped down to the bed he was lying in. Opening his eyes, Harry found himself in a sterile room with walls of cold metal and cursed as he pulled his eyes from the shiny walls in order to glance down at his body.

His legs had been strapped down with three wide straps that were drawn tight on top of a blanket over his ankles, just below his knees, and in the middle of his thighs. The blanket had then been turned down and an additional two straps were secured across his abdomen and across his chest. His arms were over top of those straps with his left arm secured to the rail of the bed with a pair of thick handcuffs and his upper right arm wrapped tightly in bandages and strapped lightly across his stomach. A glance over his shoulder (which was difficult due to the way he was laying) revealed that there were additional straps wrapped around his wings; holding them tightly folded.

From what he could tell the only stitch of clothing he was wearing, aside from the blanket covering his waist and legs, was the elbow length glove he'd secured onto his right arm with a specialized sticking spell to prevent it from being removed and the pair of silver handcuffs that Harry still wore around his left wrist (Harry having refused to allow anyone to take them off as they were supposed to be his reminder not to act without planning and he'd magically fixed them so that no one else could remove them from his person). Not that that reminder had done him any good, seeing as how he'd allowed himself to get caught once again; though to be fair, he'd been rather exhausted at the time and then he'd not had even a second's time to actually think as he'd been chased through the base by an endless number of soldiers.

Desperate to free his wings and cut the amount of pain he was feeling in half, Harry bent his right wrist and slipped his ring and middle finger into the opening in the palm of his glove (which had been cut to allow for skin to wand contact when casting) and dug out the combination lock pick and file he kept tucked beneath the glove between the hidden pocket that he'd made to hold his lock picks. He thought the edge of the file would be sharp enough to allow him to cut through the straps holding him in place if given enough time. He wished he'd thought to keep one of his throwing knives in his glove since using one of them would be far easier and far quicker.

He'd barely managed to pull the small tool free from his glove and adjust the grip on the tool in his hand so he could start working on the straps holding his right arm in place when a hand wrapped around his wrist. Gritting his teeth and silently cursing himself for not realizing he hadn't been alone, Harry looked up from where he'd been watching what he was doing to find Zechs standing over him as the masked man pulled the combo file and pick from his fingers. Harry glared at the man and desperately wished he'd thought to dispose of the man when he'd had the chance earlier in the elevator.

"I must say you are far more resourceful than I originally thought you might be," Zechs declared as he sat down on the edge of the bed after pocketing the lock pick. "You've managed to make quite a mess in the short time you were running free through the base and it will take my men months to clean everything up. I am curious as to how you managed to pull off half of the tricks you did considering you had nothing but the clothes you were wearing when we found you. There will be plenty of time for that later though. First, there are several more important questions I'll need you to answer."

Harry snorted and sneered at the man as he growled out, "What makes you think I'll cooperate any more now than I did the last time you had me imprisoned?"

"The three young pilots you attempted to free in addition to the two that had been helping you attempt to free them are currently in Lady Une's custody and I am the only one standing between them and Lady Une's wrath. So long as you cooperate; I will insure that they are unharmed. And before you think to deliver a similar threat to the one you used to turn the tables on Treize; you should know that I am the only one who currently has access to you and this room and should you harm me there will be no one to prevent Une from doing as she wishes in regards to the rest of the Star Pilots. Should you attempt to further damage or destroy this base it will only allow Une to use you as an excuse to harm them."

"I don't believe you."

In response, Zechs pulled seven photos from within his uniform jacket and held them up one at a time so that Harry could see them. The first one showed Rockstar, Northstar, and Dragonstar sitting in the research lab from which Harry had earlier retrieved Deathstar and Superstar. The second showed all five of Harry's brothers sitting side by side with their hands cuffed behind their back with both Zechs and Lady Une standing just behind them. And the last five pictures each showed one of his brothers being held in a separate cell with Lady Une standing just outside of the bars.

Harry couldn't refute the authenticity of the first two photos because he could clearly see the subtle differences in the suits that made them easy to tell apart and until now no one had linked Quatre or Wufei to the Star Pilots. Harry closed his eyes against the pain rising in his heart, instinctively knowing that it was his fault that they'd all been captured. He desperately wished he could lash out at the man beside him with his magic but the very real threat hanging over his brothers' heads prevented him from giving into the rage coursing through him (that and he knew just how risky it was to lose control of his magic out here in space).

"Let's start with a really simple question; which one of the three names you have used is your real name?"

"None of them; I never knew my name," Harry replied sullenly in a fit of passive defiance as he opened his eyes to glare up at the man; a large part of him refusing to let the masked man know his birth name. And technically, he hadn't lied to the man; none of the names he'd used publicly were his real name (at least not fully) and he really hadn't known what his name was until the Dursleys had been forced to tell him the day they enrolled him in public school.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Doesn't really matter what you believe," Harry countered flippantly. "Whether or not you believe me won't change the fact that I was telling you the truth." _Just not the whole truth,_ Harry silently added as he continued to glare at the man.

"Which name have you used the longest?"

"Taliesin Bard."

"When and where were you born?"

"I wasn't."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said I wasn't born."

"You are starting to try my patience and if you continue, your fellow pilots will be the one to suffer the consequences. You need to answer the question."

I did; not my fault you didn't like my answer. I wasn't born. I was dumped on the porch of a family that didn't want me and they cast me out to sea in the hopes that I'd drown; only I got washed up on the beach instead."

"When and in what country?" Zechs demanded with an irritated scowl.

"Don't know, don't care."

"How old are you?"

"Old enough to know that I'm not supposed to talk to strangers that have an unhealthy interest in little boys and insist on asking me personal questions."

"You need to start cooperating before I run out of patience," Zechs practically growled.

Harry didn't respond to the verbal warning, his focus being drawn back to the pain he was feeling as his wings tried to shift in response to his growing irritation over the minor interrogation. He tried shifting in his restraints in order to relieve the pressure on his wings but that only made his injuries flare up. His frustration only increased with the increase in pain and after another minute of struggling; his wings caught fire and in turn caught the mattress and sheets on fire. Zechs jumped back with a startled cry and Harry gave a hoarse cry of triumph when the bindings on his wings and the restraints on his torso snapped.

He'd just pulled himself up into a sitting position to stretch his wings out to either side when Zechs put both him and the bed out with a fire extinguisher. The cold foam clung to Harry and his wings, the foam itself irritating and chilling his wings as the flames were instantly doused. Harry shook his wings to clean them off but the stuff clung to the scales and seeped in between them where it caused further irritation. The foam that landed on Harry's gloved right hand created further problems as it managed to creep beneath the glove at the edges to aggravate his damaged nerves. After several minutes spent trying to clean his wings off, Harry sat panting and shivering as the pain and sudden chill sapped what little strength he'd had.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Zechs demanded irately as he dropped the extinguisher.

"Go piss up a rope without a raincoat you… you… maggot infested mound of manticore shite," Harry snapped back weakly.

"Your current attitude leaves much to be desired."

"Who the hell cares? I didn't ask for you to stalk me, shoot me, or hold me prisoner."

"I was not stalking you; I simply wished to see to it that you were taken care of and provided with a proper role model. You need a guardian to look out for your best interests and teach you how to integrate yourself into society."

"Oh sweet Circe above preserve me from this madman!" Harry gasped as he stared at Zechs in a mixture of shock and horror. The idea that the masked man was trying to set himself up as a father figure for Harry far worse than his darkest nightmares stemming from his old life and at the same time completely surreal. "What god did I piss off to deserve this?"

"One day you will thank me."

"You are completely and utterly delusional," Harry replied slowly as he leaned further away from the man; unable to go far due to the straps still binding his legs.

To Harry's shock, the man reached up and slowly removed the mask that covered his head and face, revealing a rather handsome man with pale blue eyes that held far more kindness than Harry would have thought possible given his past experiences with the man. Like the first time Harry had seen Quatre, Zechs' true face reminded Harry sharply of a Malfoy though in this case the long hair and aristocratic aloofness brought to mind Lucius Malfoy rather than Draco. He also didn't appear to be any where near as old as Harry had imagined he would, looking to be somewhere in his early twenties.

"We have much we can learn from each other, I think," Zechs declared as he set about unlocking the cuff holding Harry's left arm in place before cuffing his hands together in front of him. He then began removing the rest of the restraints holding Harry in place before binding his ankles together with a second pair of cuffs. "I understand it will take time until you learn to trust me but I am willing to wait."

"Why? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because I wish to understand what it is that you think I could never understand."

Harry was too confused by that statement to struggle when Zechs lifted him out of the bed and carried him to what he'd originally thought was a blank stretch of wall. As they got within a foot of the wall a hidden door slid open to reveal a rather sparse bathroom with nothing but a sink, a toilet, and a shower with a built in seat (obviously designed with hospital patients in mind). Zechs set him down on the lid of the toilet and turned on the water in the shower in order to allow it to warm up. Harry was then transferred into the shower and set on the seat so that the water cascaded down over him and his wings; the warm water rinsing away the foam from the fire extinguisher.

"I will be back shortly; I have to replace your bed," Zechs announced once he'd made certain Harry wasn't going to tumble off the seat. "Once I leave this room, the door can only be opened from the outside and even then I am the only one who can open it. There is no other way in or out of this bathroom. So, before you get any clever ideas into your head to cause trouble; remember that I am the only person you will be seeing for the foreseeable future and the only one who can protect your fellow pilots."

With that parting reminder, Zechs removed the handcuffs from Harry hands and feet and shut the shower door with a soft click; leaving Harry free to clean himself. Still reeling from the strange turn of events, Harry just sat beneath the water reveling in the warmth and the slowly fading irritation caused by the foam clinging to his scales for a brief moment. After hearing the hidden door open and close again, Harry shook his head and pushed away all thoughts of Zechs (least he drive himself mad trying to understand the deranged man) as he turned his attention to assessing his injuries.

It didn't take him long to remove the various bandages from his body. He tossed the bloody fabric to the floor as he counted no less than seven bullet wounds (one on his right knee, one on his right thigh, one on his left ankle, two on his left hip, one on the left side of his abdomen just below his ribs, and one to his upper right arm) and three blast wounds (two to his right shoulder and one in his right calf). He was actually surprised at how few wounds he'd picked up when he recalled just how many soldiers had been shooting at him during the short fight; the wards on his spacesuit having protected him from the majority of the beam blasts and gunfire before they'd failed.

All of the wounds had been cleaned and stitched shut; indicating that he'd been tended by a doctor while he'd been unconscious (something that bothered Harry immensely). Harry near whined when he got his first good look at his right shoulder; it was a complete mess and he knew it was going to forever cause him problems if he didn't regrow the damaged bones fairly quickly (before his body and his magic recognized the damaged bone as part of his body) and the skin that had been damaged by the two blasts. And those weren't the only bones he believed he'd need to replace based upon the location of the rest of his wounds.

Turning up the hot water a bit to increase the steam, Harry slipped his wand free of his glove and used the few diagnostic spells he'd learned after he started training with the pilots to determine the internal level of damage that had been done by the bullets. Much as he'd suspected, the bones in his shoulder would need to be regrown as well as those in his left ankle and right knee if he hoped to be up and moving about any time soon. The bullet he'd taken in the abdomen had missed his ribs completely and his left hip wasn't that bad but knowing he couldn't mix taking the Skele-Gro and the Bone-Knit at the same time, he'd need to vanish the bones in his hip anyway in order to take care of everything at once.

Casting several localized numbing charms to ease his pain; Harry resized his supply trunk and carefully floated down inside using his wings so he could gather the potions he would need as well as a change of clothes so he could protect his wings from being bound again. He then returned to the bathroom and replaced the leather cord holding his trunks back to his neck before he set about vanishing the damaged bones of both legs. He also vanished the many stitches, cleaned each wound with the disinfectant he brought up, applied a generous daub of healing cream, and rebandaged them with his wand. Next, he used his wings to hover up off the floor just long enough to pull on the clean underwear and pants he grabbed before tucking himself into the corner so he could disinfect, treat, and bandage the wound near his stomach before he took care of his shoulder and arm.

His shoulder was the most difficult injury to deal with because he had to use his left hand to vanish the bones, disinfect the wounds on both sides of the shoulder, smear it with healing cream, and bandage the entire thing when he was done. Getting into his shirts was a bit of a chore as well since he couldn't use his right arm to help at all. Once he was dressed, he felt much better and quickly turned off the water before using a drying spell to dry himself and his clothes. Next he quickly drank down the double dose of Skele-Gro (because he was regrowing so many bones) and then tucked the two bottles back into the hidden pockets within his undershirt with the rest of the potions he'd gathered so they wouldn't be found. He'd just finished doing that when he heard the door open and he quickly shoved his wand back into its hidden holster within his glove so that Zechs wouldn't see it.

"Good, you are finished. I brought a couple of towels so I could help dry… you…" Zechs started to say only to trail off when he took in the sight of Harry seated in the corner of the seat fully dressed and completely dry. "So it really wasn't one of the soldiers disrupting the cameras within the base while another smuggled you food and clothes. I never would have believed it if I didn't know for a fact that no one else could have gotten in here to give you clothes or help you dress."

"My godfather made certain I knew how to be resourceful," Harry tightly replied in a strained voice as he felt the first splinters of bone reforming and silently growled, _Ye gods but I __**hate**__ regrowing bones._

"You are in pain."

"You had me shot."

Harry was more than a little shocked to see honest regret flitter across the man's face for an instant before it was gone again. Zechs then stepped forward and picked Harry up only to nearly drop him on the ground when the man unexpectedly encountered the missing bones in Harry's legs.

"What the hell did you do?" Zechs demanded harshly as he stared at Harry's limp legs in shock and disgust.

"Whatever chemical based drugs you used to try to heal the damage you caused have been eating away at my bones; and because you doused my flames when I attempted to heal myself, you sped up the process," Harry lied with a straight face and was rewarded with the look on Zechs' face turning to horror.

After a few minutes, Zechs frowned and narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Much like you are allergic to chocolate?"

"Well no… I lied that night… I'm actually allergic to tyrannical imbeciles and their delusional sycophants but it would have been rude to state the truth and it is bad form to insult your host while you are eating his food; even when he had the bad grace to demand your attendance without sending a formal invitation at least two weeks in advance."

Unexpectedly, Zechs started laughing as he carried Harry back out into the sterile hospital room and Harry hunched his shoulders (well one shoulder since his right shoulder was currently boneless) as that was not the reaction he'd been hoping to solicit from the man. By the time Harry was tucked into a new bed with clean sheets, he was sweating heavily and panting against the spikes of pain digging through his legs and shoulder as his bones continued to form in splintered sections.

What was worse was that he couldn't even escape into his mindscape to escape the pain because he didn't trust Zechs enough to leave his helpless body to the man's mercy. That Zechs never once left his side during the process didn't help and Harry was so weak with pain that he didn't even have the strength to curse the man for attempting to comfort him.

It wasn't until the process was finally over as Harry was sitting halfway been consciousness and unconsciousness as the pain slowly faded away that he finally sensed Zechs leaving his side. He breathed a weary sigh of relief as he heard a door open and close and he took the chance provided to fish out the pain relieving and general healing potions he'd hidden in one of the compressed pockets within his undershirt and quickly drank them before returning the empty bottles to the hidden pocket. Sighing softly, Harry finally allowed himself to slip off to sleep so that his magic and the two potions could finish healing his injuries.

The next time he woke it was to find himself once more securely strapped into his bed and the bed being raised so that he was sitting up. Groggily, Harry turned his head to the side and found Zechs locking the bed into place; the man once again wearing his mask. He frowned at the man for a moment before spending a few minutes testing the restraints only to find them snug, secure, and now made from what he suspected was a non-flammable material due to their color and texture. He was at least thankful that his outer shirt hadn't been pulled off again and that his wings were tucked away safe and sound; he didn't think he could have tolerated the non-physical pain in addition to the physical pain of having his wings bound so soon after regrowing so many bones and the lingering pain from his half healed wounds.

"I have made arrangements for you to speak with one of the other pilots once every waking cycle providing you curb your vitriol and you start providing a measure of cooperation. In other words; you will be rewarded for good behavior and punished for any trouble you start. Is that understood?"

Harry glared at the masked man as he weighed his options; continue his minor rebellion against the man's demands or swallow his pride in order to make certain his brothers remained unharmed. If they'd still been on Earth, Harry wouldn't have had any problems razing the entire base with his magic to save his brothers but in space such an action was pure folly; since anyone and everyone inside of the base would die and that could well include his brothers if Zechs had been lying to him about where they were being kept. Dropping his chin down to his chest, Harry silently cursed himself for ten kinds of fools.

"Am I to take your silence as a refusal to cooperate?"

"No," Harry replied tightly even as he felt shame course through him. "I understood exactly what you meant."

"Perfect," Zechs stated as he moved to the wall directly across from Harry's bed and opened up a hidden panel. A few seconds later, another hidden panel on the ceiling opened up and a large screen slid into view. Zechs turned the screen on and an image appeared on the screen but Harry couldn't tell who it was he was seeing because the screen was too far away and he didn't have his glasses. "You will have five minutes."

"I need my glasses. I can't even tell if that is one of my brothers or not."

Zechs pulled Harry's glasses from his pocket and slipped them onto Harry's face before declaring, "Four minutes and forty-six seconds."

Harry glared at the man as he left the room before he glanced back to the screen to see Heero watching him in concern. Swallowing thickly, Harry whispered, "Heero."

"Hey, kid, are you alright?"

"They shot me, Heero; how the hell do you think I am?" Harry snapped back before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you; it's my own stupid fault. It doesn't hurt quite as bad now that I fixed the worst of the damage but they'd done far more damage than you did when I first met you. Are you guys alright? What happened? How did they catch all of you?"

"We're as fine as we can be given the circumstances and we've just been worried about you; it's been eight full cycles since you tried to rescue us and we knew you were hurting."

"I was unconscious most of that time, I think. Why didn't you answer my other questions?"

"The circumstances that found us in custody of OZ aren't important. I'm just sorry we got you into this mess, Taliesin."

"What do you mean it's not important? Of course, it's important! The five of you were supposed to get away. And it wasn't your guys' fault that I was caught; I half panicked when the alarms went off and didn't even think to slip out the same way I sent the three of you out," Harry countered softly before he paused a moment and bit his lip.

He then tried to lean forward but found his movement restricted by the bindings securing him to the bed. Growling under his breath, Harry sagged back against the bed before adding, "Heero… what do I do? My creepy stalker has made it his life's mission to torment me with his non-existent parental instincts. He's trying to blackmail me into doing what he says by threatening you five; he claims he's the only one stopping Une from torturing you guys."

"Taliesin, Harry; I want you to listen to me," Heero ordered as he leaned forward and fixed Harry with intense blue eyes filled with determination and concern. "You need to…"

"Don't you dare use my oath, Heero."

"Shut up and listen, Harry," Heero barked, making Harry flinch back in shock over the anger and desperation he could hear in Heero's voice (the latter something he really couldn't recall ever hearing from the teen before). "I know it's the last thing you want to do and that you may well hate me for this but I am ordering you to not fight Zechs and at least comply with any _reasonable_ order he gives. You don't have to tell him anything you don't want to or allow him to force you to do anything inappropriate nor do you have to do anything that will hurt you but don't take any needless risks. Keep your head down and keep yourself safe. There will come a day when all of this is over and we'll find a way out of this mess but until that time I need for you to be strong and survive. Do you understand?"

"Why? Why would you…?"

"Because, it would kill me if anything was to happen to you and right now Zechs is the only one in a position to protect you from the rest of OZ. Promise me…" Heero stated before the screen suddenly went black.

"_HEERO!_"

"Your five minutes are up," Zechs stated as he reentered the room.

Frustration, anger, and grief welled up inside of Harry, choking him beneath the onslaught and he tipped his head back and took a deep breath before he opened his mouth and screamed. It was a scream fueled by all of the negative emotions he could no longer hold back and his magic sustained the sound of his emotional agony far beyond what a normal human could release. The only reason his magic hadn't lashed out at everything and everyone within reach at the same time was because of Heero's carefully worded order; his magic recognizing the danger such an action would have placed him in because Harry knew what risks were involved in unleashing uncontrolled magic in a space station. When his voice finally fell silent, Harry stared up at the ceiling without actually seeing it as numbness settled over him.

"Are you quite finished now?" Zechs asked as he approached the bed and removed his masked helmet once more.

"Let's get one thing straight," Harry rasped out as he closed his eyes. "I may be stuck here and I may be forced to follow your rules for the time being but you are not my father; I do not see you as my father, I will never want to see you as my father, and you could never be my father. My compliance with your demands has nothing to do with what you wish from me and will only last so long as I am bound by my oath. So do us both a favor and stuff your pathetically patronizing attempts at parenting into the nearest incinerator or I will make you choke on them the first chance I get."

* * *

**AN:** _Whistles innocently as she edges closer to the emergency exit. Now, before you all decide to skin me alive for having Heero give Harry the orders he did… there is a reason why he did. It's a really good reason too. But um… you won't find out exactly what it is for another chapter or two but I did give you a couple of hints here in this chapter. And I did give you the promised insight into Zechs' psyche, that counts for something, right? And… and there was defiant, snarky, and sarcastic Harry. _

_Anyway… I really have to run… I only prepped this chapter because I needed the distraction to deal with the stress over the expected unpleasantness today. I'd hoped to have it up yesterday but I spent the entire day editing The Wishing Door because I needed to refresh my memory on the plot to smooth out a few rough spots in WWYR2. Oh, and I reposted chapter 24 because I fixed a small little plot hole that Mist Shadow reminded me about. You don't have to go back and re-read the entire chapter, all I did was make note of what happened to the shed scales from Harry's wings at the very end of the chapter. _

_Next chapter will be up sometime later this week, hopefully. If not, you can expect posting to resume no later than New Years but I hope it won't come to that. Wishing Door reposts will take place about that time as well as reposts for Chaos by Request and the first chapter of Discovering the Heart. Haunted hit a snag as I'm trying to fix something I didn't like in the next chapter but haven't been able to concentrate on it so that will be up no later than New Years as well._

_Okay, see every soon I hope… and a big thank you to everyone who wished me luck for today as well as to everyone who left a review for me as they helped cheer me up a lot! ~ Jenn_


	27. A Secret Unraveled

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN1:** _Normally, I leave my author's notes for the bottom of the chapter aside from my copy/paste disclaimer and my beta notice but I felt it important to thank everyone up here. This story now has 400 hundred reviews, over 700 favorites/alerts, has been added to over 30 communities, and has over 65,000 views (after subtracting 12,000 from the first chapter since I know the site shunts everyone there first). Aside from my Pokémon series, this story has been the most popular story I have ever written and the responses from all of my reviewers and the number of views have all helped me get through the unpleasantness that was sprung on me back in August with my sanity intact. _

_If not for all of you, it is possible I might have stopped writing/updating during that entire time because of the negativity I was dealing with. So, **THANK YOU**, very, very much. _

_I'm also happy to say that the unpleasantness is officially over and that it ended in my favor, though I do expect some unofficial unpleasantness to be thrown my way from the others involved because of the way things ended. I shall endeavor to not let that affect my writing and posting though. I guess that's enough mushy stuff out of me for now and I'll leave my usual chapter comments at the bottom! Enjoy the chapter folks… ~ Jenn =)_

**AN2:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 26: A Secret Unraveled

Harry stood with his arms folded as he leaned against the wall and watched the scientists putting the last minute touches on the new prototype suits that Harry was supposed to have destroyed close to three months earlier. Wufei had managed to set back the completion of the two new Gundams by two months when he had managed to destroy the blueprints and research notes on the suits. Unfortunately, because Harry had been captured before he could destroy them, the scientists had been able to reverse engineer the suits so that they could be completed. Each time he saw the two suits it reminded him of his failure and added yet another thread of guilt to the tangled mess of his emotions.

At the beginning of his imprisonment, Zechs had tried to get Harry to tell him how the Star Suits were able to withstand most everything thrown at them but Harry simply told the man he was a pilot not an engineer; which was the truth – Harry just neglected to tell him it was his magic that protected the suits and not some fancy scrap of technology. Zechs had been more than a little put out over the lack of information but he didn't punish Harry for disobedience over that at the time because Harry had reluctantly led him to the three missing Star Suits (his abandoned rucksack having been completely ignored due to the charms he'd placed on it).

It also helped that Harry was fairly obedient so long as he wasn't being asked to supply information on his brothers, the Resistance, or about his past. He also refused to do anything that would benefit OZ directly in their fight against the rebels on earth and the Resistance in space. Anything else he was told to do was done with minimal fuss; including not vandalizing the facility and not threatening or attacking anyone on the base. His grudging cooperation was one of the reasons why Harry was free to move about the base, was allowed to carry his weapons, and openly displayed Seth. The other reason was so he could protect himself from those soldiers on the base that wished to get revenge on him for the deaths and injuries he'd caused during his capture (there had been three attempts on his life within the first eight hours after he'd been moved out of the secure bunker where he'd first woken up).

One of his first tasks after his injuries had completely healed had been to scrub the corridors of the third floor in order to remove the paint and blood stains. He'd also been forced to clean each and every one of the prison cells on the third floor and all of the storerooms and empty offices on the first and second floor as punishment for the messes he'd made throughout the entire base prior to his capture. After he'd finished those two tasks (which had taken the better part of two months because he couldn't openly use his magic) and it was apparent that he was following the rules Zechs had laid down for him, Harry was given the 'privilege' of piloting and testing various suits on the base; though never one of the Star Suits.

So far he'd wrecked six Taurus suits when ordered to test the various upgrades that were made to the suits in the hopes that they could match the Star Suits for durability and maneuverability. The suits never held up long under the abuse that Harry put them through though; helped in part by Harry's magic. Now that the two new Gundams were nearly finished, the next suit he was to test pilot was the one they called Mercurius; a suit designed for defense rather than offense.

"You are prepared to test the suit?"

"It's not like I have a choice," Harry replied as he tore his eyes away from where the red suit was undergoing last minute adjustments to half glare at Zechs as the man walked up beside him. "If I had any choice in the matter that suit, and the other one, would have been turned into a pile of fine dust three months ago."

"Such negativity does not suit you," Zechs admonished making Harry roll his eyes in irritation over the comment as he returned to his study the Gundam Mercurius. "I expect the Mercurius to be brought back in one piece and in working order when you are finished with it; unlike the condition you've left the Tauruses in when you'd finished with them."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know; leave the big ugly eye-sore in one piece. I got the message the first ten times you told me not to break the expensive pile of junk during the past week after you first told me I was to test the damn suit."

"We're ready for the initial tests," Doktor S announced loud enough to get both Harry's and Zechs' attention.

Harry sneezed once as he pushed away from the wall and reluctantly made his way towards the towering suit. He hated crawling inside of the OZ suits; they felt so cold and alien when compared to the original five Gundams and the magic infused Star Suits. He'd begun to think that it was his brothers that had given their Gundams that warmth and he knew it had been his magic that had changed the Star Suits. Distaste curled Harry's lip as he climbed into the cockpit and settled himself into the pilot's chair as the systems slowly powered up; the suit currently being controlled by the computer instead of Harry.

Harry ran through the checks as required, offering feedback to the man known as Instructor H, for the next fifteen minutes. Once that was over, partial control of the suit was turned over to Harry and he began testing the suit's main functions; mainly testing the responses of the suit to his command as he made it walk, testing the propulsion jets, struggling to work with the round shield (something he'd never had to deal with before), and testing the only true weapon; a beam gun. He also had to figure out how to control what the scientists had called the Planet Defensers; a series of ten disc shaped devices that generated an electromagnetic current that was used to form a large shield or two slightly smaller shields that would protect the suit or another object.

Once the test was over, Harry couldn't drop down out of the suit fast enough; his stomach churning from having been inside it for over an hour due to his disgust over needing to help OZ and contact with the constant hostility and negativity that the suit radiated. He was told to report to hanger six for the first space test of the suit in three hours by Zechs once the scientists had passed the masked man the reports that had been generated during the initial tests. Slinking out of the research lab, Harry pulled Seth out from under his shirt and allowed the cobra to coil around his arm as he ran his fingers down the snake's back.

'_You are agitated again, Speaker._'

'_I hate what I am being made to do,_' Harry replied in parseltongue as he headed towards the room he'd been assigned just a few weeks earlier after it became apparent that he was cooperating with them on some level.

'_So don't do it._'

'_We've discussed this, Seth, I can't just not do what they tell me to do because the others will be hurt and because Heero ordered me to do what Zechs tells me to do._'

'_Life would be much simpler if you were a snake; we are not bound by our emotions to others the way you humans are._'

'_I am not a snake though, Seth,_' Harry reminded his oldest legless friend. The snake hissed out something derogatory in a tone that sounded half exasperated and amused over Harry's reminder that he was human and Harry changed the subject before the snake began his usual 'humans are stupid' rant. '_How long has it been since I gave you a nice fat rat to eat?_'

'_Nearly four moon turnings*… you've been feeding me those tiny little white mice that are hardly worth the effort to swallow and leave me feeling as if I never ate at all. And it's been days since you fed me last._'

'_I will get you a rat when we reach my room. That should keep you occupied while I am out testing their Merlin cursed suit; I don't want to take any chances of you getting hurt if something should go wrong._'

They arrived at Harry's room just a few minutes later and nothing further was said as Harry headed to the one corner he knew was not monitored by cameras (he'd hacked into the security network in order to make certain of that) and slipped his supply trunk (where he kept the mice and rats he'd brought into space for Seth) from his necklace before restoring it to full size. He headed down into the trunk and placed the snake into a rune heated terrarium before grabbing one of the rats and putting it into the cage with Seth. Harry then grabbed the new spacesuit he been given (his old one having been ruined the day he was captured) and headed up to his room (he never liked watching or listening to the snakes eat). He left the trunk where it was sitting; knowing that even if someone stumbled across it they'd never be able to get into it or move it.

Harry spent a couple of hours doing his stretches, katas, and practicing with his enchanted cards and one of the wooden practice swords that Wufei had procured to teach Harry how to use a sword without risk of injury; the teen not wishing to grow rusty. Forty minutes before he was required to report to hanger six as ordered, Harry put his things away before taking a shower, changing into clean clothes, and putting on the spacesuit (which he'd discreetly warded the first chance he had after it had been given to him in order to protect it from his magic). He then tucked the helmet of the suit beneath his arm and reluctantly made his way to hanger six wondering what kind of test they intended on having him put the suit through. Zechs was waiting for him beside the red suit when Harry finally arrived.

"You will have ten minutes in which to further familiarize yourself with the suit before I will send out a number of mobile dolls to test the suit's defenses. You are to do nothing but defend for the first fifteen minutes of battle at which point you may counter attack to determine how effective the beam rifle is when used in conjunction with the Planet Defensers. If the Mercurius gets through both tests without taking significant damage than you will have another battle with two more advanced manned suits. Your main objective is to keep the suit in one piece. Any questions?"

"No."

"Very well then; make certain you at no time take the suit more than twenty miles from the surface of the moon as the control tower has permission to engage the self-destruct mechanism in the Mercurius should it appear as if you are attempting to escape."

"Understood," Harry fairly growled at the pointed reminder that he was nothing more than a prisoner regardless of Zechs' insistence otherwise as he jammed his helmet on his head and climbed up into the suit.

He was given clearance to take the suit out five minutes later and Harry engaged the jets, blasting out of the hanger like a bat out of hell. He set the sensors to warn him the moment he reached fifteen miles above the moon's surface before he put the suit through its paces. At the ten minute mark, his scanners picked up the ten mobile suits that had been dispatched to test the defenses of the suit and Harry spun around to face them as he activated the Planet Defensers to shield his back and sides while he used the crash shield to defend his front.

The first five minutes were fairly easy, the second five minutes were a bit of a pain as he was forced to dodge using a few fancy moves that were better suited to Dogstar or one of the other Star Suits, and the last five minutes were pure hell as the Planet Defensers lost power and he was forced to withdraw them in order to recharge them. His body was also taking quite a beating due to the fact that the suit wasn't warded to protect him from the speed he was forcing out of the suit or the hits the suit was taking from the dolls.

The moment the fifteenth minute was up; Harry happily sent out the now recharged Defensers, fired up the suit's beam rifle, and began mowing down the stupid mobile dolls with a vengeance. It took him over thirty minutes to destroy all of the unmanned suits; his responses far slower than usual because of the internal injuries his body had suffered over the course of the battle. When the last mobile doll exploded, Harry landed Mercurius on the surface of the moon and brought the Defensers back to charge once more as he ran through a systems check to determine how much damage the suit had taken from both the steady barrage of attacks and his reckless maneuvers.

"_Mercurius, status report_," Zechs ordered through the comm. system.

"Suit sustained minimal structural damage during initial battle, Planet Defensers (while effective) lose power quickly under heavy fire; making them practically useless during an extended battle. The suit is also ill-equipped to handle excessive defensive and evasive maneuvers without inflicting internal damage to the pilot. Mercurius's over all status is currently at ninety-one percent."

"_Proceed with the final test; you are to engage the two suits deployed._"

Harry prepared himself for yet another battle, monitoring the charges on the Defensers as he scanned the grid map for his opponents only for Mercurius to take two simultaneous hits from both front and back. Icy numbness spread through Harry as he rolled with the shock of the two hits. He immediately knew what suits were now attacking him and who it was that was piloting said suits; only the Star Suits possessed stealth capabilities superior enough to hide from the Mercurius's advanced systems. That meant that Zechs had sent two of his brothers to test the Mercurius's capabilities and they would be doing their damnedest to destroy Mercurius because they didn't want such a powerful suit in OZ's hands.

There was no way he could fight against his brothers; he _would not_ fight against his brothers. Resignation filled Harry as he powered down Mercurius's systems and dropped the suit down onto the surface of the moon to wait for the next hit; not even bothering to deploy the Defensers to protect himself or the suit. He didn't have to wait long as a steady barrage of machine gun fire knocked Mercurius off its feet and drove the red Gundam across the surface of the moon for several meters and Harry let out a strangled whine as he recognized Superstar's main weapon fire.

"_Mercurius you are to engage your opponents,_" Zechs ordered sharply.

"Fuck you, Zechs," Harry yelled back in response to the order. "I will not fight my brothers. You can not make me fight my brothers. I would rather die than allow you to force me to fight my brothers."

The fire raining down on Harry abruptly cut off and Superstar shimmered into view as Trowa's shocked voice called out, "_Taliesin?_"

Duo's Deathstar shimmered into view a moment later looming over the Mercurius, his scythe poised for a fatal strike (that would have sliced right through the cockpit of the red Gundam) as he demanded, "_What da hell are ya doin' in that suit, kiddo?_"

"_You are to continue with the test as scheduled, Taliesin,_" Zechs repeated.

"You either call off the test or I will render this suit to dust; much as I did to the Gundam Wing on Earth," Harry coldly countered as his anger spiked. "I will not attack my brothers nor will I defend against their weapons. If you use the computers to retake control of the suit in order to attack my brothers; I _will_ destroy it."

"_Your insubordination will not go unpunished; return to hanger six immediately._"

Not bothering to reply, Harry reactivated the suit's systems and picked the suit up off the ground where it had been driven by Trowa's attack. Alarms started blaring as the systems reported significant structural damage and a compromised life support system but Harry ignored them as he checked the current status of the suit's fusion reactor to make certain it hadn't been damaged.

"_Taliesin, I didn't… If I had known, I never would have…_" Trowa declared over the radio as he moved Superstar closer.

"I know, Trowa; I don't blame you. I blame Zechs."

"_Ya ain't hurt, are ya, kiddo?_"

"Just my heart, Duo, just my heart," Harry replied as he engaged the engine.

The suit's control was wrested from Harry at that point by the computer system back at the base and Harry dropped his hands from the controls as the suit was remotely guided back to the hanger. With nothing to do to take his mind off the pain from his internal injuries and what Zechs had just tried to force him to do, Harry curled up in the seat and fumed. He wasn't certain what hurt more; the pain from his bruised organs or the heartache of knowing that they'd tried to force him to face off against his brothers.

The systems powering down let Harry know that the suit was finally back in the hanger but he made no move to exit the cockpit of the suit; not quite ready to face Zechs least he lose control of his emotions and his magic as a result of what the man had just tried to do. The choice of when he faced the man was taken from Harry just a few minutes later when the door was opened from the outside and Zechs stepped into the cockpit. Harry glared up at the man he blamed for his current condition and his continued misery as a prisoner of OZ.

"Your orders were simple…" Zechs began.

Harry unbuckled his harness and shoved passed the older man before he could finish whatever it was he was going to say; in no mood to hear one of Zechs' lectures. He dropped down out of the suit without bothering to use the cable or stepping onto the catwalk that Zechs had used to access the suit. He landed heavily on the ground but ignored the stinging in his legs and feet and the hot lances of pain that shot through his torso from his damaged innards as he strode away from the Mercurius suit. He'd nearly reached the door when a hand fell on his shoulder and spun him around. Using the momentum to his advantage, Harry swung out with his right fist and punched Zechs on the chin.

"I told you to keep your Merlin cursed hands off of me, you putrid pustule of pogrebin piss," Harry spat out as he jerked his shoulder out of Zechs' hand.

Zechs recovered fairly quickly and wasted no time in shoving Harry up against the wall. Harry lashed out with a foot and kicked the man in the knee while at the same time delivering a sharp palm strike to the man's sternum with his left hand. Zechs' response was to knee Harry sharply in the stomach before slamming him against the wall a second time with one arm pressed against Harry's neck. The blow to the stomach caused Harry to vomit up blood; the hit aggravating his already bruised insides and he wrapped his arms over his stomach in response. Gasping for breath, Harry waited for the next blow to land only for Zechs to step back and release him for a brief moment before he grabbed Harry's left arm and began dragging him from the hanger.

They'd barely gone twenty steps before Harry got his second wind and began fighting back once more even as his magic thrummed in warning due to him purposefully ignoring Heero's order not to fight Zechs (not that he cared at that point due to his anger). Zechs had expected the attack this time though and the man easily blocked each attack with one hand while keeping hold of Harry's arm with his other. The two of them drew the eyes of every soldier they passed; the sight of Harry actively fighting Zechs somewhat of a shock after his fairly submissive behavior over the past three months (not counting the brutal battle to capture him in the first place). They ended up in Harry's room eventually and Zechs gave Harry a hard shove that sent the rather small wizard tumbling to the floor.

"Enough, Taliesin," Zechs ordered when Harry scrambled back up onto his feet intent on attacking again.

Harry pulled of the helmet of the spacesuit and threw it across the room where the tempered glass that made up the face of the helmet shattered from the extra force that Harry's magic had added to his throw due to Harry's anger. The small outburst of magic caused the lights to flicker for a moment in the room which forced Harry to reign in his anger least he shut the entire base down unintentionally.

Clenching his teeth, he sneered at Zechs before turning his back on the man as he began stripping out of the spacesuit as he snapped out, "Get out and leave me the hell alone; you've tortured me enough for one day."

"I'm not finished speaking to you yet."

"I don't fucking care; I'm not listening to another damned word you have to say."

"You will listen to everything I have to say; or have you forgotten that I am the only one protecting both you and those you call your brothers from Une and the rest of OZ?"

"That sure as hell didn't stop you from trying to order me to kill them out there just now, you sanctimonious sack of skrewt shit."

"I never ordered you to harm them; I ordered you to test the capabilities of the damned suit!"

"Bullshit, you told me to fight my brothers! What the hell did you think was going to happen? Did you think I would thank you for the opportunity to potentially harm them? Did you think I would appreciate facing off against them knowing that they were trying to destroy the suit I was in!? A suit, I might add, that is far inferior to the Star Suits when I was in no condition to face that kind of opposition? They didn't even know it was me inside that damn suit!"

"Une was supposed to have informed them that you would be piloting the suit," Zechs declared tiredly as he removed his mask and studied Harry critically. "Why didn't you tell me you were injured?"

"I did… or were you too stupid to understand what I meant when I said; _the suit is ill-equipped to handle excessive defensive maneuvers without inflicting internal damage to the pilot_?"

"How badly were you injured?"

"I would have said nothing more than a bit of internal bruising but thanks to you kneeing me in the stomach I'm pretty certain I can upgrade that to internal bleeding with possible ruptures."

"You should not have attacked me; you had to know I would defend myself."

"You wouldn't leave me alone and I've told you before not to touch me."

"Arguing over who is to blame isn't going to see your injuries taken care of," Zechs stated as he pinched his nose in exasperation. "Take yourself down to the infirmary so the doctor can determine the extent of the damage and make the necessary repairs."

"I can deal with it myself; I don't need one of your pathetic lackeys poking and prodding at me because their piss-poor medical skills would only end up making things worse than they already are," Harry snapped back as he wove his way over to his supply trunk and slipped inside before Zechs could respond to him.

A glance at the terrarium showed Seth happily dozing curled up over the under-tank heat generating runes, the large bulge in his belly indicating he'd had no trouble with his meal. Moving further into the shelves, Harry searched through his potion supplies to find the internal healing potion he recalled seeing at one point. Once he found it, he quickly drank a single dose and followed it with a strong pain reliever and a mild sleeping potion after checking to make certain the two potions wouldn't react negatively with the healing draught. He then used the trunks shower to clean off the blood he'd vomited on himself earlier and changed into clean clothes.

At that point, he reluctantly made his way back up to his room knowing that Zechs would most likely still be waiting for him. His supposition turned out to be true as he came face to face with the man almost the instant he lifted the lid of the trunk from the inside. Harry rolled his eyes and stepped out of the trunk before slamming the lid shut to prevent Zechs from getting a good look inside. If not for everything that had happened earlier, Harry might have smirked at the look of confusion on the man's face but Harry was still far too pissed with the man to appreciate his bewilderment.

"Taliesin…"

Tensing, Harry tilted his head slightly so that he could watch the man out of the corner of his eye as he waited for whatever it was Zechs was going to say. As he waited, he was a little surprised to note the bruise that had blossomed across the man's chin; he hadn't thought he'd clocked the man that hard. A frown pulled at Harry's mouth as Zechs appeared to be struggling over what he wanted to say; something that Harry couldn't recall happening before.

"You are restricted to your room for the next nine cycles," Zechs finally declared as he jammed his masked helmet back over his head. "You'll be locked in from the outside and you will receive no phone calls or visitors for the duration of your confinement. Your meals will be delivered once a cycle. If you ever pull another stunt like you did earlier or disobey a direct order again; your personal effects will be stripped from you and you will be moved into one of the prison cells for the duration of your stay on this base."

"I'm so scared," Harry drawled sarcastically only to gasp in shock immediately afterwards as Zechs backhanded him across the face for the first time; the pain of the blow thankfully numbed due to the pain potion he'd taken earlier.

"You seem to have forgotten your place; allow me to remind you. You are a prisoner and my ward whether you choose to recognize that or not. Any freedoms I have given you can be taken from you just as easily if you continue to be disrespectful and disobedient. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. Do not forget it because any additional reminders will not be anywhere near as pleasant."

Harry watched the man stride out of the room as he reached up to brush his fingers across his numb face. He then growled and kicked his trunk in frustration before dropping his face into his hands. Exhausted and more than a little disgusted over everything that happened, Harry made his way over to his bed and dropped down onto the mattress. It didn't take him very long to fall asleep thanks to the combination of potions he'd taken just a short while earlier and he ended up sleeping for nearly three full cycles. He hadn't stirred once during that time; not even when Zechs delivered his first meal and brushed a hand over the dark bruise that had formed on the left side of his face.

Once he did wake, Harry spent most of his time juggling his knives and his cards or running through his katas. The only person he saw during his confinement was Zechs and Harry studiously ignored the man whenever he delivered Harry's meals. Harry also hadn't bothered trying to speed up the healing of the bruise on his face; a silent and constant reminder to both himself and Zechs that Harry was nothing more than a prisoner. The fact that Zechs flinched each time he laid eyes on the lurid bruise was only icing on the cake as far as Harry was concerned.

Just before his confinement was due to end, Harry gathered up anything he didn't want to risk being taken from him (including his throwing knives) and dumped them into his supply trunk. He then removed Seth from the terrarium and shrunk the trunk back down to a manageable size before threading it back onto the leather cord with the rest of his trunks. When he was finally released from his confinement, Harry was assigned a pair of guards to escort him wherever he went with the warning that if anything happened to either of them Harry would be held responsible and his brothers would pay the price.

His access to various parts of the base were greatly restricted now as well; limited to his room, the mess hall, and Zechs' office. He was also no longer being asked to test pilot the new suits and Zechs had expressly forbidden him from entering any of the research labs. Harry continued to spend the majority of his time in his room because he had no desire to visit Zechs in his office unless he was being allowed to speak with one of his brothers; a privilege that had been drastically reduced after Harry's brief fit of defiance. The other thing Harry continued to do was ignore Zechs; or rather he didn't acknowledge the older man unless he was giving Harry an order and Harry never spoke a single word more than necessary.

That changed on the day when Harry's tri-weekly video conference with his brothers (this time he was speaking with Wufei) was interrupted by an urgent report of a rogue Gundam destroying space stations. The Gundam's path of destruction indicated that it was heading straight for the moon and destroying everything that got in its way. Zechs immediately ordered two platoons of mobile dolls to be assembled and ordered for two of the Star Pilots to be transported down to pilot the two new Gundam suits. Harry's heart seized as the thought of two of his brothers facing a Gundam in the virtually untested and inferior suits and he willingly addressed Zechs for the first time since the disastrous test of the Mercurius.

"Send me in Dogstar," Harry demanded tightly as he turned away from Wufei to glance at Zechs.

"No," Zechs shot back without even looking at Harry before continuing his conversation with the soldier that had brought the news about the rampaging Gundam. "If you can, capture the suit and the pilot; if not, I want it completely destroyed before it gets within a hundred miles of this base."

"I can stop the suit cold with one shot," Harry admitted softly making Zechs glance sharply at him.

"One moment," Zechs commanded before he focused intently on Harry. "You have thirty seconds to explain."

"Dogstar is capable of shutting down a suit, even a Gundam, with one shot; the suit will remain in one piece and the pilot will be virtually unharmed. The systems will be completely shorted out but easy to replace or repair."

"Cancel that transport order for the two pilots and continue to program the two platoons," Zechs instructed the soldier before he dismissed the man and returned his attention to Harry. "If I allow you to leave this base in your suit in order to capture this unknown Gundam and you attempt to escape at any time; I will personally execute all five of the teens you call your brothers. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. You will have twelve hours in which to disable the suit and return to the base; any delays will see me carrying out the promised executions. Once you have returned you will come directly to my office and we will be discussing exactly just how much information you have been withholding from me about the abilities of the Star Suits."

Harry simply gave a curt nod before he headed towards the lab where four of the six Star Suits were kept when they weren't attempting to run tests on them. He scrambled up into the cockpit of his suit and pulled an extra spacesuit out from the storage bin; the replacement that Zechs had given him no longer useable because Harry had destroyed the helmet in his anger. He then started up Dogstar's systems to run through a quick system check to determine if there was anything wrong with the suit before he powered down and dropped out of the cockpit.

As he landed back on the floor, he saw Zechs watching him from the door and Harry tried to not to think about the threat the man had given to him just moments earlier. Harry quickly shrank his suit and cast a feather light charm on it while keeping his wand tucked out of Zechs' line of sight in the holster of the glove protecting his right arm. He then picked up his suit, trotted over to where Zechs was standing, and paused to see if the man had anything further to say.

"Use hanger two," Zechs instructed. "Does your suit require any maintenance?"

"No."

"Then you are cleared to take off. You are to remain in radio contact the entire time you are out there; use radio channel one-seven-five. If you can make contact with the pilot you are to attempt to talk him into surrendering both himself and the suit. If that fails, you have permission to engage the suit. I also fully expect you to record the entire battle so that we can see what the rogue Gundam is capable of before you shut it down."

"Understood."

Fifteen minutes later, Harry switched Dogstar over to flight mode as he left the moon for the first time in nearly four months; reveling in the freedom he felt behind the controls of his suit. As ordered, he gave frequent updates to the Lunar Base control tower regarding his position as he sped towards the coming confrontation. When he drew close to where the Gundam was next expected to appear, Harry cranked up his external speakers and began announcing his presence to the universe at large by launching into a very vocal rendition of the theme song from Futurama (with Seth hissing merrily along in the background).

His reasoning for the childish display; if the pilot of the other suit was part of the Resistance they'd recognize the song, Harry's voice, and Seth's hissing. If the pilot was not a member of the Resistance then they would either immediately attack Harry or be confused enough to make first contact.

While he waited for the suit to show, Harry put Dogstar through his paces; simply enjoying the thrill of being in space with nothing but his suit. It brought to mind happier times when his five brothers were first teaching him how to fly Dogstar in space. Two hours later, the Gundam finally arrived and Harry was shocked speechless as he looked out on the Gundam that looked yet did not look like Wing. He was further shocked when the pilot addressed him just moments after he'd stopped belting out various space related theme songs.

"_Taliesin is that you?_"

"Zayeed?" Harry queried almost in disbelief; his heart sinking at the thought that Quatre's father was the one rampaging through space.

"_Gah! No more! It was bad enough you forced me to kill my son, must you taunt me with the child as well!?_"

"Zayeed, what is wrong? What happened? Why are you piloting Wing and where did you get him from?"

"_I built him to find my son! They took my son from me and then they made me fight my own son and I killed him. Please… no more. I don't want to kill you, Taliesin. Be gone._"

"Quatre isn't dead, Zayeed; I spoke with him just thirty-six hours ago. We're all alive if not exactly safe."

"_Liar!_"

Harry was shocked when the Gundam fired the suit's custom buster rifle at him and he dropped Dogstar down and barrel rolled when a second the blast immediately followed the first as Zayeed tracked him through space. The Gundam was far faster than Wing Gundam and Harry felt grim determination set in as he listened to Zayeed continue to spout delusional nonsense. He knew something was wrong with the man but didn't know if it was a simple emotional breakdown because of Quatre's imprisonment or if it was something far more serious. The fire power of the Gundam was also far deadlier than expected and Harry was hard pressed just to dodge and defend against the repeated blasts from the buster rifle while at the time same trying to talk Zayeed into standing down.

"Please, Zayeed; I don't want to fight you but if I don't stop you they will execute Quatre and the others," Harry pleaded as Dogstar skidded sideways after nearly being hit by yet another overpowered blast from the powerful rifle.

"_My son is already dead!_"

"You're wrong! I can prove it to you. Please don't make me fight you; Quatre would never forgive me if anything were to happen to you."

"_I will listen to you no more, demon! You are not Taliesin; he'd never try to stop me from avenging my son's death._"

Harry felt tears slipping down his face as he dodged yet another blast and flipped Dogstar on his side before he sped up and began circling the Gundam so fast that Zayeed couldn't keep up with him only for the man to split the custom buster rifle in half and start firing wildly to either side in an effort to catch Harry. Spinning outwards in a reverse corkscrew, Harry felt Dogstar get clipped and his controlled spin ended in a tumble that would have destroyed any suit other than one of the Star Suits or one of the warded Gundams.

Harry corrected his trajectory and pulled off his right glove so he could insert his wand in the amplifier before he needed to take evasive action again. He then entered stealth mode and dodged the machine gun fire that Zayeed shot at his last location before moving in closer to the Gundam. When he was close enough, Harry attempted to switch Dogstar back over to suit mode only for the transformation to fail and he cursed as he was forced to modify his plan of attack. Still in stealth mode, he positioned Dogstar over top of the still firing Gundam so that the amplifier was situated directly over the other suit.

"I am sorry for your pain, Zayeed," Harry stated as he drew on his magic while Zayeed continued to try and find him by firing all of his weapons off in a circle around him (though thankfully he never fired above him). "I only hope that you will find peace once you learn the truth."

The red stunning spell washed over the suit and Harry watched as the suit began sparking for several seconds before the optic sensor on the head unit cut out and the entire suit froze. Harry sagged back in his seat, pulled his helmet off, and wiped the tears from his face before he slipped his wand back into his sleeve and put his glove back on. He then reattached his helmet and took a moment to collect himself before he addressed the Lunar Base for the first time since the Gundam had made contact with him (though they'd overheard his entire conversation with Zayeed and watched the video feed of the battle that Dogstar had been transmitting as ordered).

"Lunar Base, this is Dogstar; rogue Gundam has been successfully disabled. Requesting permission to drop out of radio contact for twenty minutes in order to extract the rogue pilot from the now non-functioning suit."

"_Permission denied Dogstar; you are to return to base immediately._"

"The life support systems will have failed on the both the Gundam's cockpit and the pilot's suit; if the pilot is not extracted immediately he could die. Please… let me at least pull him out."

"_Colonel Une is in route to collect the suit and its pilot; your mission is complete and you are hereby ordered to return to the base immediately,_" Zechs ordered sharply.

"If he dies because you refused to let me…"

"_If you do not head back to base immediately your actions will be seen as an attempt to escape and I will take immediate action. I repeat; return to base immediately._"

"Understood," Harry snapped out as he carefully and reluctantly pulled away from the Gundam.

As he turned Dogstar's nose towards to moon, Harry prayed that Zayeed's spacesuit still functioned (knowing only a limited number of warded spacesuits had been left behind for the Resistance's pilots assigned to his squad to use during missions) and that Quatre would eventually forgive him. At least he'd protected his brothers from having to fight against Zayeed and possibly being killed piloting unstable prototype suits; the Wing-like Gundam far more advanced than OZ's experimental prototypes.

His radio check ins were short and curt as he made his way back towards the Lunar Base; his eyes glued to the flashing grey dot that marked the disabled rogue Gundam on his map. When a second, larger red dot, representing Une's command ship, slid to a stop beside the Gundam; Harry felt the knot of worry filling his belly loosen a touch as it meant that Zayeed would hopefully have the help he needed soon. Harry attempted to drop Dogstar back into suit mode one more time as he approached hanger two and growled when the suit failed to shift; knowing the malfunction could only be a direct result of the hit he'd taken. Cutting the engines, he allowed his forward momentum to carry him into the hanger where he settled the suit awkwardly on the ground (the Taurus suits not designed to land while still in flight mode) as the hanger door slowly dropped down behind him.

While he waited for the artificial gravity inside the hanger to reengage, Harry started running a complete diagnostic scan on Dogstar to determine the full extent of the damage received. Once his report had been generated, Harry grimaced when he noted that there'd been a significant amount of structural damage done to the back if the suit where he'd been clipped just before shutting down the Gundam (far more damage than what he'd received when his shield had failed to hold back the full brunt of the Colony's beam cannons during his efforts to protect the satellite). He was damn lucky that the wards hadn't degraded or destabilized as a result otherwise the suit would have exploded quite spectacularly with him inside of it the moment he'd used magic.

"That's going to be a bitch to fix," Harry groused as he saved the report to view again later and shut down the internal systems as he was given the green light to disembark from his suit.

He stripped out of his spacesuit and tucked it back into storage so that nothing would happen to it before he opened the cockpit door as far as it would go (given that the 'chest' portion of the suit was currently half sitting on the ground) and slithered out of the cockpit. Once out of the suit, Harry climbed up onto his feet and swayed a moment before he shook off the mild exhaustion he felt from the emotional battle and his overpowered stunning spell. Once he no longer felt as if he was going to fall flat on his face, he scrambled up onto Dogstar's back to do a visual inspection of the damage and grimaced again when he saw the burnt and melted section of the suit that had fused the magically enhanced suit in flight mode.

There was no way he'd be able to fix that on his own and there was no way in hell he was going to allow any of Zechs' men to touch Dogstar. The suit would have to be docked unless an emergency came up or he got a chance to escape; he'd have to avoid pushing the suit to its limits until it was repaired though. As he carefully shrank and lightened the suit, Harry considered asking the scientists to repair it for him but immediately nixed the idea when he realized that several of the outer panels would need to be replaced due to the amount of damage they'd received which in turn would require him to reapply the blood wards to that section. And the last thing he wanted to do was allow anyone in or around OZ to know about the blood wards because he feared they'd bleed him dry in an attempt to ward all of their suits or worse, experiment on him to see what else his blood could be used for.

Still considering what he would do about his suit, Harry headed for the lab in order to put his suit away when he recalled Zechs' orders to report to his office and Harry stumbled to a stop as he realized the man was going to once again try to extract a shitload of information about the Star Suits from him. Feeling ill to his stomach, Harry slowly turned around and headed towards the man's office; a growing feeling of dread pressing down on him with each step he took.

Seven minutes later, Harry was standing poleaxed in front of Zechs' office door trying to bring himself to knock on said door to announce his presence. Every cell in his body was screaming for him to run away as far and as fast as he could and it was only the threat of execution hanging over his brothers' heads that kept his feet glued to the floor where he stood. It took him a full two minutes to dredge up the courage to raise his hand to knock only for the door to be yanked open from the inside by a scowling Zechs before his hand connected with the door.

"You're late," Zechs stated as he loomed over Harry.

"Dogstar was hit towards the end of the battle and I had to determine the extent of the damage in order to learn whether or not it could be safely repaired without reducing the integrity of the entire suit; it can't. I'm surprised Dogstar didn't detonate shortly after being hit."

"I will have the mechanics take a look at the suit sometime over the next couple of days."

"No point… any repairs they attempted could set off the suit and level the entire base."

"Impossible."

"You were there the day I detonated Wing; now imagine a self-destruct device that is one hundred times more powerful… are you certain it would still be impossible?"

"And if I choose not to believe you?"

"I don't care if you believe me or not. S'not like any of your minions could actually mess with my suit without getting electrocuted anyway. That's one of my favorite things about Dogstar… he's loyal to a fault; even if I do push him to his limits."

"You will provide me with a complete list of specs for your suit and the other five Star Suits."

"No. I will not give you the information that may one day see my brothers killed. Besides, I'm not an engineer and I'm not a mechanic so I can't give you what you are demanding from me. Even if I was, I wouldn't give you the information; nor can any of my brothers provide you with what you want."

"You will tell me or I will…"

"You will what? Lock me in my room again? Lock me in a prison cell? Hit me again? Torture me? Or will you keep holding my brothers' lives over my head simply because I refuse to tell you how to kill them at some point in the future? Or will you give me to Une to break? Or maybe you wish to break me yourself? You continuously keep pushing me and one of these days I'm going to stop caring about the consequences of giving into my rage."

"I warned you that I will not tolerate any more insubordination from you…"

"And I've done everything you've asked of me over the past three and a half months unless doing so would place my brothers in harms way. I've allowed you to continuously push me around and limited my insults. I'm still your prisoner when I could have vanished the instant my injuries finished healing. Hell… I even went out there and captured my brother's father and spared not only two of my brother's lives but prevented the destruction of your precious prototypes in the process. Not to mention the fact that I did exactly as I said I would and as you ordered me to do."

"And yet you still sit here and argue with me and refuse to answer my questions."

"I told you that someone like you could never understand," Harry whispered as he cleared all emotion from his face.

"And what is it that you think I don't understand?"

"I know you don't understand because if you did, you wouldn't have to ask."

"Taliesin…"

Harry shook his head and half turned his back to Zechs. He'd spelled it out to the man a hundred different ways and if he couldn't even bother to listen, then there was no point in trying to explain it to him yet again. What Zechs would have said or done next Harry couldn't say as their argument was interrupted by a knock on the door. The soldier who entered reported the return of Une and the successful retrieval of both the suit and the pilot.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Zayeed had survived the frying of the Gundam's systems and he once again had to brush tears from his face. The soldier also reported that the scientists had recognized the Gundam suit in question as they'd designed it prior to creating the Gundams that were sent to Earth and they called it Wing Zero. The soldier left some forty minutes later, after Zechs had been given a complete report and passed along orders for various individuals on the base and in orbit. The older man then sighed and returned his attention to Harry and Harry simply stared back silently.

"The weapon you used to short circuit the suit… you have used it before."

"Yes."

"Do all of the Star Suits and the Gundams that were sent to Earth have the same weapon?"

"No."

"Can it be installed in other suits?"

"No."

"How does the weapon work? Who created the weapon?"

"I don't know."

"You said you used it before; where?"

"Here in space; on the mobile dolls I've fought against before you captured me."

"They said that all of the systems of the Wing Zero Gundam were completely fried," Zechs mused as he leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest and Harry imagined that the man was eying him shrewdly beneath the mask. "The systems in the six Taurus suits you piloted were also fried and yet your suit was no where near them at the time. The weapon is not on your suit; you carry it with you."

"Yours suits are inferior and quite frankly they suck. You've seen all the weapons I carry," Harry countered as he struggled not to show the anxiety that was rising up inside of him as Zechs' guess hit far too close to home.

"No… your suit isn't that much different than the other Tauruses and while you've added a few upgrades and made a few changes; it is still essentially the same suit model. The suits that were salvaged from the immediate area around the site of our battle on the day you blew up the original Wing Gundam suffered system overloads; including my Tallgeese. There was also a large scale black out at Treize's Luxembourg castle the night you escaped, or were possibly rescued, that was caused by overloaded circuitry."

It took all of Harry's will power not to blanch or allow the fear to show in his eyes as Zechs finally connected Harry to those two events. He hoped that so long as he didn't show any of his distress that Zechs would pass it all off as coincidence but Zechs wasn't quite finished.

"The night that Colonel Une visited you in your cell, the same night of your escape; she said something that made no sense and at the time I passed it off as delusional ramblings because she'd received a rather nasty concussion. Right after ordering you to drop your weapon; she said you told her, word for word, 'I am the weapon'. There is also the fact that you insisted on being the one to disable the Gundam; that implies that you are the only one who could use said weapon."

"So, that leads me to the conclusion that the 'weapon' you speak of is actually a Newtype ability you have that you've been trying to pass off as a weapon built into your suit in order to hide the fact that you have such a powerful ability. It also explains why the others went to the lengths they did to hide you; only you probably refused to be left behind when they chose to take carry on fighting in space. That also explains part of the reason you've been cooperating; that ability could easily shut down this entire base, killing everyone inside."

This time Harry couldn't stop the blood draining from his face as he began backing away from Zechs. Fear trailed icy fingers up his spine as he recalled what Heero had told him about what OZ would do if they ever got their hands on Harry and learned that he was capable of taking out a Gundam (or any mobile suit) singlehandedly. Letting out a strangled whine, Harry spun on his foot and dashed towards the door; his entire being focused only on escaping. He never made it to the door as Zechs tackled him from behind; knocking the breath out of Harry as he hit the floor hard. Zechs wasted no time in cuffing Harry's hands behind his back and locking his ankles together with a second pair of handcuffs.

Closing his eyes, Harry pressed his face to the floor as the world crashed down around him beneath the weight of the knowledge that he'd just sold himself out with a few careless words and his own stubbornness.

* * *

**Notes:**

*Moon turning – is a reference to the phases of the moon and one moon turning equals approximately one month. For this story, that is how snakes keep track of the passing time aside from marking the seasons. Those months, of course, do not line up with the actual months because snakes do not have or need calendars.

* * *

**AN:** _Oh what a chapter… this chapter practically wrote itself though it's also gone through several re-writes as I cleaned it up and made Harry's battle with Wing Zero more believable. More specifically, I made the damage Dogstar received from Wing Zero more visible in the way it affected the suit since the custom buster rifle on Zero is known to be more powerful than that of Wing's as it was powerful enough to destroy at least one Colony in the series. _

_I know quite a few reviewers had been asking about Zero since the boys first made it into space and it was obvious that I was going to save Zayeed and I hope I managed to surprise a few of you by having Zayeed be the one to build the suit. And as I promised a few reviewers, I spared Trowa from losing his memories as I didn't want him to lose his connection to Harry since I think that would have broken Harry far more than it broke Quatre in the series. Plus there's the fact that Cathy is no longer in the circus and therefore not in a position to find and save an amnesiac Trowa._

_Aside from that, we got to see Zechs attempting to be parental again, witnessed Harry pushing Zechs' buttons more than once, and once again saw Zechs' intelligence as he pieced together Harry's secret by stringing together all of the little clues and coincidences. The next chapter will show the fallout from Harry's battle with Zero and Zechs' discovery about Harry's abilities. It will also have the promised explanation for the how and why the pilots ended up back in OZ's hands and why Heero felt it was necessary to use Harry's oath to get him not to fight Zechs. _

_I'll probably update again tomorrow, since I'm still in such a good mood, but no promises as I still need to finish fixing the next chapter of Haunted. I'm also going to start updating The Wishing Door today with the edits I made the other day while I was working on that series as I want the slight revisions up before I post the first chapter of the third story in the series. So anyway, that's what I'm going to work on for now (at least until I have to deal with the expected fallout from the results of yesterday's unpleasantness). Until then… thank you again for all of your support and hope that this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations (since my satisfaction over the chapter is rather biased because I was the one that wrote it). ~ Jenn_


	28. Shifting Loyalties

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 27: Shifting Loyalties

Zechs stared out the window of his office and grimly monitored the transfer of Wing Zero, the two Star Suits that Une had kept, the remaining five star pilots, and the pilot of Wing Zero from Une's command ship to hanger eight. Une had been ordered to continue her diplomatic mission and Zechs had no wish for anything to happen to the six pilots because he feared he'd loose what little control he had over Taliesin as a result. The key would be to keep Taliesin from finding out that the other five teens he called his brothers had been transferred to the base because he had a sneaking suspicion that the kid would stop at nothing to free them.

Turning from the window, Zechs glanced down at the single monitor displaying the kid in question.

_He's not moved once since I took him back to the isolated bunker two days ago,_ Zechs mused silently as he frowned at the boy laying motionless on the bed. _Why did he go from defiantly angry to absolutely terrified in the space of a heartbeat? Was it just because I'd figured out his secret or is there more to it? What exactly is he terrified of? I would lay money down on those other teens knowing but the question is; can I coerce them into telling me what they know?_

Turning off the monitor, Zechs headed towards the only entrance to the underground bunker where Taliesin was currently being housed. He'd had the isolated bunker built when he first started putting together his plans to trap the boy. It consisted of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with the one bedroom and bathroom designed more along the lines of a hospital prison cell.

The security on the entire bunker was top of the line and keyed so that he and he alone could enter the bunker or activate any of the various technology within the annex. He'd known the boy would attempt to fight his way out or slip through some impossible escape route if he didn't take extra precautions to close any potential avenue of escape. It helped that this particular cage had been built in space where reckless destruction would result in instant death; otherwise it probably wouldn't have held the kid for long.

His plan to capture the boy had been simple; take something he wanted, negate any cloaking device used, disable the kid to prevent him from fighting, isolate him completely, and then hold something dear to him hostage so that he would, if not cooperate, at least not actively cause problems. It had worked better than he had expected it to and he knew it had something to do with that first conversation that Taliesin had had with one of the other pilots. It had been patently obvious that something significant had happened during that first conversation; Taliesin's entire behavior and attitude had undergone a drastic change almost immediately afterwards.

The boy had grudgingly cooperated and at least tried to be civil so long as there was no threat (immediate or other wise) to those he called brothers. When he reached the entrance to the underground bunker, Zechs stopped to enter the security code and provided the necessary retina and fingerprint scans to confirm his identity before stepping into the horizontal lift that would transport him to the bunker. He repeated the process after stepping out of the lift and into the small antechamber outside of the bunker where a second security checkpoint had been installed. Once the door opened to allow him entry, he stepped inside the small hallway and headed towards the small kitchen that opened off of the left hand side.

He set about preparing a small meal to take to the boy though he doubted the kid would actually eat it this time, given his current state of mind and the fact that he hadn't eaten a single bite since being moved back into the bunker. Zechs did not wish to leave the boy without any food while he was attending to other matters though and the kid would have to eat at some point. Once he finished making the small plate of food, Zechs carried it towards the entrance to the boy's highly secured room and went through the security check a third time using a completely different password (the extra check point an added precaution in the event that someone managed to bypass the first two).

The moment he stepped into the room, Taliesin moved for the first time in two days as he raised his head just enough for his turbulent mismatched eyes to track Zechs as he crossed the room and his voice (whisper soft and shaking with tightly suppressed fear) cut through the room, "What are you going to do to me now?"

The question caught Zechs off guard as he'd fully expected the kid to continue the silent treatment he'd been giving him since the day he'd had the kid take the Mercurius suit out for a live test. The wording of that single question was also quite telling and Zechs nearly scowled as he considered the implications behind it. Zechs didn't bother to answer the question as he deposited the plate he carried on a table that folded down out of the wall before turning to study the child once more. He then pulled off his mask, having noted early on that Taliesin despised and feared the mask (something that puzzled the man because most people feared the man behind the mask), and waited for the kid to relax slightly before addressing him.

"Why do you think I'm going to do anything to you?"

"You know what I am capable of doing and you brought me back to this room," Taliesin bluntly replied as he slowly sat up and lifted his chin slightly in a show of defiance that was at odds with the nervousness that laced the kid's voice. "I am not stupid; I am well aware of what my ability could mean for the war in the long run. The only question is if you are going to continue your attempt to brainwash me and turn me into your personal weapon, clone me in the hopes that my ability is genetic so you can create an army, or resort to genetic experimentation in an attempt to turn me against my brothers or potentially reproduce my ability in others. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to at least know which form of torture you'll be inflicting upon me."

Zechs stared at the kid in shock as he'd honestly not even thought about what Taliesin's ability might represent to OZ and the war if it should become public knowledge that the kid had a talent that allowed him to cripple the opposition with seeming ease. That the kid had thought about it, and was fully aware of what could be done to him in order to make use of that ability, explained the sheer terror he'd witnessed earlier. The thought that there were those within OZ that would gladly do any or all of those things to the child in order to exploit his ability filled Zechs with an unfamiliar feeling of dread and concern.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Zechs felt a pang of remorse flash through him as he watched Taliesin flinch and shift further away from him before he pushed the unfamiliar feeling away and addressed the kid, "I won't be doing any of those things to you nor will I allow you to be taken by those that would do such things to a child… any child. I told you, I sought to find you so that I might protect you and understand what it was that drives you to do the things you do. I know it is not revenge; I am intimately familiar with the driving need to get revenge. As for being back in this room…? I felt it best to secure you away from the others until I could determine your mental stability."

Zechs paused to take the time to study the disbelief and mistrust on Taliesin's face before continuing, "I don't know who allowed you to be experimented on in the past but so long as I am in a position to prevent it; you will never again have to suffer through such experiments." When Taliesin didn't say anything in response, Zechs sighed, replaced his mask, and rose to his feet. "I will check on you periodically over the next few cycles but there are other matters that require my immediate attention."

Returning to the main portion of the Lunar Base, Zechs headed towards the prison cells on the lower level so that he might speak with the five younger pilots. He was halfway there before he changed his mind and instead tracked down the rebel scientists in order to get them started on repairing Wing Zero; he'd let the pilots stew in silence and uncertainty for a while longer before dealing with them. He also stopped by the infirmary to check on the health of the man who'd been piloting the powerful Gundam at the time Taliesin disabled the suit.

According to the initial reports, the man was suffering from some kind of mental breakdown that was brought on by a combination of grief and hallucinations induced by the operating system of Wing Zero. The scientists hadn't been very forth coming about the system installed on the Gundam but from what Zechs did learn, the system was capable of interfacing directly with the pilot's brain in order to speed up the pilot's responses and thought processes.

Over the next week, Zechs continued to monitor the repairs on Wing Zero, kept a close eye on Taliesin's emotional and mental stability, and ran the Lunar Base as an afterthought. Unfortunately, at the end of the week things went to hell in a hand basket. It started with Treize being forced to step down as the leader of OZ over a dispute regarding the use of the mobile dolls. After that, came the orders for Zechs to destroy the all of the Star Suits, scrap the Gundam suits that the scientists had been working on, ship the six Resistance pilots he had in his custody to Earth so that they could be tried in a court of law (and ultimately executed for their crimes against OZ), and hand over custody of the Newtype child so that he could be studied by OZ's scientists in order to determine if his abilities would be of any use to OZ.

The first three orders were troublesome but it was the final order that greatly incised Zechs because it meant someone under his command had gone digging where they should not have and then promptly squealed like a stuck pig; the full scope of Taliesin's abilities having been classified information that he'd not even passed on to Treize. Zechs was given one week to comply or he would be facing a court martial and an execution of his own. Unwilling to allow anyone to harm the child he'd come to see as a son (even if said child didn't share the sentiment), Zechs set about making plans that would ultimately allow the child and his adopted brothers to escape.

Ten minutes after receiving his latest orders, Zechs strode into the prison cell where the pilots were currently residing and took a moment to study the five teens as they warily stood in response to his unexpected appearance. In that moment, the five teens reminded him of Taliesin and he briefly wondered if it was because they were still so young themselves or if it was because the kid had picked up their mannerisms. Shoving away the distracting thought, Zechs clasped his hands behind his back and addressed the teens.

"In seven days, I will no longer be in a position to protect the five of you or Taliesin from OZ," Zechs stated without preamble. "If there was even the slimmest chance that doing so would be in Taliesin's best interest, I would simply allow the six of you to walk out of here right now. However, due to the revelation that I have at least one spy hiding amongst the soldiers on this base, doing so would undoubtedly create more problems than it would solve and that is not something I am willing to risk."

"What exactly is it you want from us?" Heero demanded as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"I know Taliesin has an ability that allows him to short out the systems of a Gundam or an entire castle. I know that Taliesin could easily destroy any suit he pilots due to that same ability with the exception of Dogstar and possibly the suits that the five of you operate."

"So?" Duo drawled lazily.

Zechs ignored the taunting tone of the long haired teen as he continued, "Dogstar was badly damaged by Wing Zero and Taliesin is certain that it can't be safely repaired and that any attempts to repair it would result in an explosion that would rival the destruction of his Gundam back on earth; meaning that you'd be one suit short if I did allow you to fly out of here."

"Not an issue… he could hitch a ride in one of the other suits," Trowa dismissively countered.

"Dogstar was damaged during his short battle against Wing Zero; which means that Wing Zero is powerful enough to damage your Star Suits. Would you really want to leave that technology in the hands of OZ?" Zechs asked softly.

"What's your point?" Wufei inquired tightly as he scowled at the older man.

"At least one of you knows what it would take to secure a suit so that Taliesin's ability didn't affect it. I may not know which one of you that is but there is no doubt that one or more of you know. I'm certain Taliesin knows more than he is willing to admit as well but he has adamantly refused to reveal that information strictly because he fears that it will be used against the five of you at some point in the future."

"So what if we do?" Heero stated with a shrug. "What does that have to do with the fact that you are being removed from your position?"

"I want you to use that knowledge to upgrade Wing Zero so that Taliesin can use it to escape when they come to arrest me for insubordination."

"Come again?" Duo asked incredulously.

"In seven days, I'm going to refuse to hand the five of you, the pilot of Wing Zero, or Taliesin over to OZ for execution and experimentation respectfully and they will send someone to arrest me and collect the seven of you within hours of my refusal. With Wing Zero protected, Taliesin could use it to escape and destroy this base in the process; crippling OZ and denying them a weapon capable of countering you and your Star Suits at the same time."

"Why?" Quatre asked softly.

"Because no child deserves to be treated like some sort of science project and I do not wish to see Taliesin harmed or worse abused because of his abilities. They would break him; first by killing you and then by the various experiments that they would subject him to in their quest to either turn him into the perfect soldier or use him to create millions of perfect soldiers."

Zechs watched as the five pilots huddled close together and held a whispered conference, one of them occasionally looking up at him with an unreadable expression before returning to the discussion. He waited patiently for them to finish, knowing that if he was to succeed in seeing Taliesin safe; he'd need their complete cooperation.

"Has Wing Zero been completely repaired?" Trowa asked after several minutes passed.

"Yes… I had planned to commence testing the Zero operating system this week using the five of you as it appears the system has some flaws that put a weak pilot at risk. The five of you, Taliesin, and myself are the best pilots currently on base and I would not needlessly risk Taliesin by having him test it without seeing how the system affects other pilots aside from the man who piloted it originally."

"Is my father recovering?" Quatre inquired with concern at the reference to his father.

"He is but he is not yet completely stable. He is still functioning under the belief that he killed you while he was piloting the suit. I will make arrangements for him to be unguarded when the time comes so that you may take him with you when you leave."

"We'll work with you on one condition; you move Taliesin into our cell," Heero declared after another fifteen minutes of hushed debate between the five teens.

"Not possible," Zechs replied only for all five teens to immediately begin protesting and Zechs had to hold up his hand in order to silence them before he could continue speaking. "Allow me to explain, Taliesin isn't exactly a prisoner; he's had almost free run of the base for the past four months right up until he refused to face two of you in the Mercurius. He's currently in isolation because I feared he was mentally unstable after dealing with Wing Zero followed by my realization that it was him and not a weapon built into his suit that disabled the Gundam. Moving him into your cell would be far too suspicious and the spy would immediately know something was up the moment I transferred Taliesin into a cell and he or she would report me."

"Can you allow one of us to have forty-eight hours alone with him?" Heero asked after the group of teens held what Zechs assumed was a silent conversation with a single glance. "The process to secure a suit is two-fold and while we can start the process, Taliesin is the only one that can create the activation key but he can't be left alone to make the key because if he makes a mistake it will kill him."

"I can smuggle one of you to him," Zechs agreed after giving the request serious consideration; including coming up with a legitimate reason for removing one of the pilots from the cells that wouldn't be seen as suspicious to the traitor amongst his men. "What do you need from me in order to start on the initial portion of the upgrades? And which of you would be willing to start testing the Zero system?"

"We'll need at least three metal etching tools, access to the Gundam, the tools needed to strip the outer armor from the Gundam, and a place to work where we won't be caught on camera. It will take two days for Taliesin to create the key, two to three days for the suit to be prepared, and another day or two to put it back together and activate the upgrades," Trowa offered after the pilots shared another silent conversation. "Taliesin will need a day or two to recover after the key has been made and he will have to be present in order to activate the upgrades. Can any testing be completed within the first two days? That would give us five full days needed to upgrade the suit in addition to whatever we can get done between tests over the course of those first two days."

"And when would you need to see Taliesin?"

"The sooner the better, so that he has plenty of time to recover before the upgrades need to be activated."

"I will see to it that everything is ready before the end of the current waking cycle. All I need now, then, is to know which one of you will be needed to help Taliesin and which one will be the first to test the Zero system?"

He watched as Trowa and Heero had a small, brief argument before Heero finally turned and approached Zechs followed by Duo a moment later. Zechs nodded and signaled for both to teens to follow him. Once outside the cell, Zechs gave Duo a push towards the two guards that were waiting outside.

"Take him to the lab; he'll be testing Wing Zero. I'm taking this one upstairs to interrogate him. Make certain that one doesn't try any funny stuff."

Zechs then ushered Heero towards the entrance to the isolated bunker, stopping only once to cover the teen's head so that he wouldn't be able to remember how to get to the entrance of the bunker or observe the security procedure required to access the bunker.

* * *

The long week of isolation had been hard on Harry and he kept flipping between self-pity and self-disgust over everything that had happened since the day he'd fallen into Zechs' trap nearly four months earlier. He'd spent quite a bit of time over the course of the week meditating in order to regain control of his emotions but it wasn't easy due to the worry he felt for his brothers since he'd not been allowed to speak with any of them since he'd been moved back into isolation.

There was also the constant worry eating away at the back of his mind over whether or not he could trust Zechs' word about him not wanting to exploit Harry's magic; not that the man knew that Harry's ability was magic and not one of the so called Newtype talents. When he wasn't meditating or curled up on his bed waiting for the other shoe to drop, Harry spent time running through the exercises, katas, and sword stances Wufei had taught him.

It was on the ninth day (or the twenty-seventh cycle) of his isolation when Harry's unhappy routine was abruptly disrupted once more. At the time, he'd been using his wings to hover several feet off the floor as he practiced his sword stances using both of the practice blades Wufei had given him to work on his duel wielding (an exercise designed to strengthen his wing muscles and help him later use those same stances in Dogstar while in zero-gravity).

He'd just been executing a forward lunge with his left handed sword while he brought the sword in his right hand across his chest to block a non-existent blow when the door to what he thought of as his prison cell opened unexpectedly. He spun around in midair and dropped gracefully into a defensive crouch with both wooden swords held ready to attack in a reverse grip and his wings spread wide to help him maintain his balance as he took in his visitors.

"You've been learning to fight with swords as well as knives?" Zechs drawled questioningly before he shook his head and pushed the person with him further into the room. "Of course you have been trained to use a sword or you wouldn't be able to use the beam swords your suits were equipped with and I'm not here to get a detailed listing of your abilities. There are power shifts occurring within OZ right now that will ultimately affect you. I will not have time to watch over you during the next forty-eight hours as I have things that must be done; so I have brought someone who can. I give you my word that the surveillance cameras in this room will be disabled for the duration of those forty-eight hours; at which time I will return for both of you. I will be back in a few minutes with enough food to carry you through the next forty-eight hours."

Zechs then removed the restraints on the person he'd brought with him and promptly left. Harry remained in his defensive crouch as he watched the individual reach up and remove the cloth sack that had been covering his head to reveal Heero. Harry stared at the teen in shock as he couldn't quite believe that Zechs was allowing one of his brothers to visit him. Slowly rising to his feet, Harry let his swords clatter to the ground and wrapped his wings around his body protectively as his eyes darted about the room in confusion; a large part of him thinking this was some kind of trap or trick.

"Taliesin?"

"Is that really you, Heero?"

"Yeah, it is and no you don't have to hang me upside down and hex me to prove it," Heero replied with a half smile.

Harry closed his eyes for a split second as he furled his wings and let out a soft sigh of relief before he walked up to Heero and hugged the other teen as he stated, "I was so afraid something had happened to you guys because Zechs wasn't allowing me to talk to any of you like he had before. I was starting to go mad imagining the worst and didn't know how much longer I could take not knowing. The others are alright too, right?"

"They're as fine as can be expected given the circumstances."

Before Harry could respond, the door opened once more and Zechs walked in carrying a couple of boxes filled with food. When the masked man caught sight of Harry embracing Heero, he stopped and stared at the two of them for a brief moment and Harry had the distinct impression that the man was jealous but he immediately brushed the thought away as ludicrous. The man then dropped the boxes, turned around, and stalked out of the room without saying another word; once again giving the impression that he was jealous of Harry's relationship with his brother.

"Is it just me or did he seem…"

"Jealous?" Heero supplied as he pulled back a bit. "It wasn't just you."

Harry shivered and leaned back into Heero as he muttered, "It still creeps me out that he thinks of himself as some kind of father figure and it only got worse after you ordered me to obey him; 'cause it appeared as if I was accepting him as such."

"Not much different than you coming to see me as a brother after I shot you," Heero quietly pointed out.

"There's a big difference," Harry dryly pointed out as he dropped his head against Heero's chest. "You didn't kidnap me, threaten my family with bodily harm, and stalk me for months on end. You helped the others teach me how to survive in this world of technology, how to protect myself, and still allowed me to cuss and curse you despite being the only one in a position to stop me from doing either."

"You also hated me for a long time or have you forgotten that you promised to kill me at one point?"

"I didn't hate you," Harry countered with a grimace over the reminder. "I hated the fact that you made me see and acknowledge a part of me that I never knew existed. I don't exactly hate Zechs either… well, no that's not true, I do hate him on some level but it's more that I hate the fact that he holds you and the others hostage against my good behavior. He also frightens me because he's shown that he'll go to any lengths to get what he wants and knowing he wants me for whatever reason only makes it worse. I also deeply resent the fact that he thinks he has a right to insert himself into my life as a parental figure."

"Why?"

"He's cold. And it's not just the fact that he is a soldier because if it was I would have resented the five of you since you all are in effect soldiers as well. I have always felt safe around the five of you; even when I didn't wish to. I don't know if it is anything like Quatre's Space Heart or not but when I am near any one of you I can feel a sense of warmth and security and know I am safe. All I feel from Zechs is cold emptiness as if he has no heart or maybe it is that he has no true emotions."

Harry paused and pulled away from Heero, his wings fluttering in agitation as he crossed his arms protectively over his stomach and stared off at nothing. After a moment he continued in a soft voice that seemed to fill the entire room, "The idea that someone as cold and empty as Zechs could replace my parents or even my godfather is an affront to their sacrifices and the few precious memories of I have of them."

"My mother and father both sacrificed their lives in order to protect me from Voldemort; even though they knew they would most likely be tortured and killed, they willingly placed themselves between me and the monster of a man who'd come to kill me. My godfather broke out of prison to save me, faced a hundred demons to protect me, lived on the streets eating rats and garbage for a year while digging for information because someone was trying to kill me again, and he risked everything to free me from those who wanted to use me or kill me to claim my inheritance for their own."

"I don't think Zechs could ever understand their sacrifices or the emotions that drove them to sacrifice themselves. I didn't understand for a long time either. I had a bare glimpse when I befriended the Weasleys and Hermione but then it all got turned around when I learned the Weasleys were just in it for the money. Then I met you and the others and the five of you inserted yourselves in my life before I even realized it was happening and suddenly I understood exactly what drove my parents and Sirius to do what they did to protect me. I don't want to die but I would gladly give up my life for any one of you because a world without the five of you in it isn't a world I would want to live in. The mere thought of taking a person's life sickens me but that won't stop me from killing another to protect my family."

"I understand," Heero murmured as he closed the distance that Harry had put between them and dropped his hand on Harry's head.

"I know you do… and that's the difference between you and Zechs. That reminds me… how the hell did you guys end up being captured again? You guys didn't try sneaking back in just to save me did you? I asked the others but they wouldn't tell me anything either."

"It's not important…"

"Bullshit, Heero; if it wasn't important, then you would have answered me the first time I asked you. What are you guys trying to hide from me?"

"We weren't trying to hide anything from you, Taliesin; we just didn't want you to blame yourself," Heero quietly admitted the moment it became apparent that the wizard wasn't going to let the matter go. "We weren't captured; we surrendered. Wufei witnessed your capture as he'd still been on the base when the alarms went off, Quatre could feel your pain and anger, and Zechs was threatening to have you executed if we didn't turn ourselves in. At first we figured he was bluffing and planned to rescue you right up until you vanished completely shortly after the doctors had finished treating your injuries."

Harry opened his mouth to apologize only for Heero to cut him off before he could say anything.

"No. It wasn't your fault and I don't want to hear an apology from you. The plan you, Wufei, and Quatre came up with to get us out was damn good and it would have worked against anyone but Zechs. Zechs set you up from the start; he'd plotted and planned from the moment we ditched him the day we left the earth and he has far more experience waging war than any of us. There was a reason he was given the nickname the Lightning Count and it wasn't just because he is a talented pilot."

"But if not for me…"

"Taliesin, stop; you just got finished telling me that you'd sacrifice yourself for any one of us, so it should not come as any surprise to hear that any one of us would sacrifice ourselves for you. It didn't take me long to stop seeing you as an annoyingly stubborn little foul-mouthed brat that liked to push my buttons and began seeing you as my little brother. I know for a fact that the others all feel the same way; so is it any wonder we'd do anything necessary to protect you?"

"And the reason you ordered me to cooperate with Zechs?" Harry asked tentatively around the lump of emotions that formed in the back of his throat over Heero's confession.

"Une made more than a few threats about what she would do to you the moment she got her hands on you. So long as you cooperated with Zechs, then Treize would not order Zechs to turn you over to Une. We didn't want to take any chances of you falling into her hands once again and figured that Zechs was the lesser of two evils at that point."

Harry shuddered in response to that revelation as he leaned into Heero's touch for a moment before he once again wrapped his arms around the other teen; wanting and needing the physical contact because it had been close to four months since he'd last been comforted by someone he trusted. He shivered a bit when Heero's hands ghosted over his wings for a split second as the younger, taller teen returned the embrace but he didn't pull away.

"What exactly is going on?" Harry finally asked after the silence had drawn out for several minutes. "Zechs has never before allowed me to have a visitor while I'm locked up in here and I doubt he ever planned on allowing any of you to visit me for five minutes let alone two full days."

"Let's head down into your supply trunk; I don't trust him to have turned off the cameras as promised and we need to have a long talk," Heero replied.

"You could have told me that before you let me rant," Harry deadpanned even as he retrieved and resized the trunk in question and opened it up so they could climb inside.

"It was an educational rant… maybe he learned something."

"I doubt it… I've tried explaining things to him a hundred different times in a hundred different ways over the past four months and he still can't comprehend what motivates me. Besides, as far as I know, hell hasn't frozen over just yet."

Unseen by Heero and Harry, Zechs shut off the security camera and sat back to consider what he'd just learned by eavesdropping on that small reunion. He'd originally hoped that they'd reveal something about the defensive upgrades that would be added to Wing Zero and had been completely blindsided by Harry's passionate declarations. It was a conversation that would hound his thoughts for the rest of the week.

Back in the secure bunker, Heero laughed as the two of them disappeared into the trunk. Once they were comfortably ensconced in a pair of lawn chairs, Heero wasted no time in bringing Harry up to date on most everything that had happened since the day he'd gone out to face Zayeed in the Wing Zero Gundam. Harry was skeptical about Zechs' motives but he couldn't deny the fact that it would be the perfect opportunity to escape; if they could pull it off.

The first thing Heero confirmed with Harry at the end of that debriefing was the state of Dogstar after the battle against the Gundam. The news that the custom twin buster rifles on the more advanced Wing Zero Gundam were more powerful than the buster rifle of the Wing Gundam that Heero had taken to Earth disturbed the taller teen. It also confirmed that Zechs had at least been partially truthful with the Gundam pilots when he'd approached them for their help. Once they finished that conversation, they took a small break so that Harry could gather enough food for the two of them (neither of them interested in any of the food that Zechs had left for them) for the next two days as they would be spending that time in Harry's trunk to avoid anyone seeing what they were doing.

Once they had everything set up, Harry started the blood letting while the two of them discussed alternate plans in case Zechs was just stringing them along. Those plans included taking the two prototype suits, Wing Zero, all six Star Suits, the five scientists, and Zayeed with them when they left as well as destroying the entire base and uploading a virus to the base's network to destroy any information on all of the suits and the Zero System. Harry also asked Heero to ask Wufei to get him print outs of everything they had on Wing Zero; especially anything regarding the operating system of the suit so that he could commit the information to memory.

At the end of the forty-eighth hour, Heero carried an exhausted Harry up out of the suit and helped him return the cord of trunks back to his neck. Heero was just settling Harry onto the bed when Zechs strode into the room. The man took one look at Harry's rather sickly complexion and the bloody bandage around Harry's left hand and instantly blamed Heero for his current condition. Harry could practically feel the entire room grow darker as the man snarled at his brother. Harry instinctively knew that Zechs wouldn't hesitate to hurt Heero right now and he fisted his right hand in Heero's shirt as the teen attempted to stand up to face Zechs.

"What did you do?" Zechs demanded coldly as he glared the taller teen.

"I created the activation key for Wing Zero's defenses," Harry answered in Heero's place as he tightened his fist against Heero's efforts to pry him free of his shirt. "And I cut my hand while I was working."

"You told me you were going to watch over him."

"I did. We warned you that creating the key would take a toll on him; it would have been worse if I had not been here to make certain he ate and rested when possible," Heero stated as he stopped trying to free his shirt and calmly met Zechs' gaze.

"Heero did nothing wrong and I will be fine after eight or so hours of sleep," Harry added bitingly as he glared at the man for daring to attack Heero; even if it was just verbally.

"I can't move you back into your rooms with you looking like death warmed over," Zechs tightly pointed out.

"So don't… let the base believe that I am still locked up in this room and Heero can smuggle me back to his cell so that I can see my other brothers."

"Not possible. I was supposed to be interrogating him."

"Let me guess, you thought to knock him about and bruise him up once he left here to keep up appearances?" Harry asked sarcastically as he changed the hand that was holding Heero and pulled him closer. He then began muttering under his breath to hide those incantations he couldn't use silently while running his right hand over Heero's face, arms, and clothes to hide the fact that he was using his wand to change Heero's appearance, "Of all the stupid… told you hell hadn't frozen over… I swear… he's arrogant, wears a mask, has long blonde hair, and displays unexplored depths of stupidity? I thought Quatre said there were no Malfoys in this world."

When Harry finally let go of Heero, the teen looked as if he'd been worked over quite thoroughly for two days; sporting an assortment of new and fading bruises covering most of his exposed skin, a split lip, black eye, ripped clothes with liberally speckled with bloodstains (the blood supplied by Harry's injured hand), and an underlying paleness that hinted at pain. Harry took one look at his brother and nearly threw up because it looked so real; still, it was far better than letting Zechs work him over and the spells would wear off fairly quickly over the next twenty-four hours. Even Zechs appeared more than a little stunned by the ten minute transformation.

"Now… about smuggling me out?"

"You can't stay in their cell; you'd be trapped if my replacement gets here earlier than unexpected," Zechs sighed as he turned away from Heero to face Harry once more. "I had hoped to allow you the run of the base again with a pair of trusted guards to keep an eye on you."

"Nix the guards and just give me run of the base," Harry countered as he tilted his head to one side. "I can make is so that no one will ever see me."

"If everyone thinks he is still locked up in isolation that could work and it would allow us to work with him to finish the suit just that much sooner," Heero supplied on the heels of Harry's rebuttal. "It would also leave him free to act in case the worst happens and your replacement shows up ahead of schedule."

"Fine… but how am I supposed to get him out of here without him being seen?"

"Like this," Harry replied as he tapped himself on the head with his right arm while whispering the incantation to the disillusionment spell under his breath causing his body to slowly ripple and disappear. "Heero can carry me on his back until I am close to my room and I'll slip away to sleep."

"No. I will leave you here to sleep for eight hours and then I will return to escort you back to the base. That way there is no chance that they will find you while you are so weak."

"And if something happens to you during that time? You told me that you are the only one who can get in or out of this place. What happens to me if something happens to you?"

"I will be back in eight hours; I still have at least eighty hours before they take action against me. I've been working on a way to buy us more time and can implement it in two or three full cycles."

"If you are gone longer than sixteen hours I will take matters into my own hands," Harry stated softly with an undercurrent of steel as he countered the spell and shimmered back into view. "Dogstar is still operational enough to allow me to easily blast my way out of here."

Zechs grudgingly agreed and left Harry to sleep off his exhaustion while he pulled the cloth sack back over Heero's head and led him out of the room. Harry watched with regret as his brother was dragged from the room and prayed that things would be better soon before he closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled down into sleep.

Twelve hours later, a disillusioned Harry was standing on the observation deck in one of the lesser used research labs watching as his brothers striped the outer armor off of the Wing Zero suit and carved the ward runes into each piece. The lab was currently locked, the doors draped with a tarp so the light didn't shine into the corridor, and the security cameras looped to show an empty room. The cameras in the pilots' prison cell were similarly looped as well; to show all five pilots sleeping.

The only reason Harry had not yet joined the five on the ground was because they didn't yet know Harry was in the room with them; he'd just snuck into the room via the air vents and was waiting for an opportune moment to announce his presence without startling them too badly. That and he'd taken several minutes to just drink in the sight of all five of his brothers as he inspected them for any evidence that someone had harmed them. Sighing, Harry climbed up onto the guardrail that wrapped around the observation deck, took off the shirt that hid his wings, and spread out his wings as he jumped down.

Unable to resist pranking the five teens, Harry dropped his over shirt on Heero's head, tugged on Duo's braid, poked Trowa in the back of the head, turned Wufei's clothes green, and conjured a bunch of smiley faces on Quatre's shirt before he landed well out of reach of all five of them. They knew exactly who it was that had snuck up on them but it was amusing to see them trying to figure out where he'd gone. Finally, Harry released the spell hiding him as he snickered down at all of them from the torso of the Gundam.

"Merlin but I missed you guys," Harry breathed as they finally glanced up to where he was perched.

Harry was dropping down over the side a heartbeat later and feeling far younger than his seventeen and a half years as he hugged his many brothers while trying not to get too emotional. Quatre thanked him for saving his father, Trowa apologized again for attacking him during the test, Wufei apologized for not being at his side when he was caught, Duo complained about having his braid tugged on, and Heero asked him if he'd gotten enough sleep.

Harry in the mean time apologized to them all, demanded to know if Une or Zechs had harmed any of them, and assured them that he was fine if a touch tired. After twenty minutes just enjoying being reunited with each other, the group went back to their self assigned tasks; Heero and Quatre continued to pull the armor from Wing Zero, Trowa and Wufei resumed etching the rune schemes onto each panel, and Harry took Duo with him into the cockpit so that he could start warding the inner systems of the suit.

"Heero said you were the first one to test the Zero system," Harry fished tentatively as he etched runes into the inner faces of the access panels on onto the various system boards before painting them over with his blood while Duo removed the un-warded panels one at a time and replaced the warded ones once Harry was finished with them. "How different is it from the systems used in the Star Suits and the Gundams?

"Very," Duo replied slowly. "If it was at all possible we'd torch this suit and pray no one ever found da means ta recreate it. Zero messes with your mind and makes ya see things that aren't there. It also cuts your response time in half and increases your overall effectiveness. Da stronger ya are mentally da longer ya can tolerate da system but eventually it overwhelms ya completely. It was most likely da system that made Zayeed think he'd killed Quatre after makin' him believe he'd faced him in battle and why he didn't think ya were really ya. Zayeed is a strong man but he was angry over Quatre's capture and da system made him live out his worst nightmare."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Zechs seems ta think he will be and Quatre said his father's emotions don't feel quite so chaotic any more but it is gonna take time for him ta fully heal."

"I tried so hard to get him to listen to me; he just didn't want to listen. I felt sick to my stomach when Zechs forced me to leave without allowing me to make certain Zayeed still lived. I feared Quatre would hate me forever if anything happened to his father because of me."

"Quatre would have been just as upset if anything had happened ta ya," Duo quietly countered as he paused and glanced over at Harry with a troubled look. "I don't want ta see ya pilotin' this suit, Taliesin. As far as I'm concerned this suit is da worst thing ever created and I don't think there is a person alive that can handle its power without sacrificin' something of themselves. Heero, Wufei, and Trowa think ya are da only one that could possibly pilot it safely because they believe your magic will protect ya but I'd rather not risk ya gettin' hurt."

"This suit nearly destroyed Dogstar; if it had hit me just a little more to the center, if it had hit a different section of the wards; Dogstar would have exploded and you'd never have found enough of me to bury. Destroying it wouldn't guarantee that no one recreated it and leaving it in OZ's hands could easily see one of you dead one day because I can't upgrade the Star Suits any more than I already have. One of the other Gundams might have stood a slim chance against it but it would not have been easy and they still would have taken some damage. If Zechs had sent any of you out in the Vayeate and the Mercurius… well lets just say I fear I'd have ended up two brothers short."

"I know and that's da only reason why I'm not raisin' a bigger stink about them thinkin' of puttin' ya in da pilot's seat of this monster."

"I doubt I could fly this suit any better than any of you and if what you say about the Zero system messing with the pilot's brain is true, then I might well be the worst pilot to put in the cockpit because it could potentially lock me in my mind while my body is completely under the influence of the interface."

"Ya just had ta go and say that didn't ya?" Duo groused as he gave Harry a sour look.

"Just stating fact, Duo. Has Wufei had a chance to burn off everything they have on the Zero system and the rest of this hunk of junk's basic functions and internal systems?"

"Sort of, Zechs actually printed off everything they had on all of da suits currently listed in their system; includin' da old Alliance suits and OZ's mobile dolls. He gave us a list of their basic specs, their strengths, and their weaknesses as well as an extensive collection of blueprints for all of da suits currently in existence except for da Star Suits and da original five Gundams; includin' some of da older models that were scrapped decades ago."

Harry listened to Duo talk as he continued to carve the ward schemes and paint the runes with his blood. After about eight hours, the five pilots had to return to their cells so that they weren't missed during the physical inspections while Harry remained behind to continue working on warding the cockpit. Tucked away inside the Gundam as he was, Harry was invisible to those that peered into the lab every now and then to check on the suit; including Zechs who'd been looking to check on Harry. He ended up napping for a couple of hours curled up in the pilot's chair and his dreams were vague and troubling as his subconscious mind worried over what he'd learned about the Zero system.

After his nap, it took another eleven hours of carving and painting for Harry to finish warding the cockpit before he moved on to painting his blood over the runes the others had been carving. It took another four cycles for Harry to get the rest of the suit finished (or thirty-two hours) even with his brothers helping him when they could and he was utterly exhausted by the time the suit was finished. He was actually tempted to swear a magical oath saying that he'd never ward another suit for as long as he lived. The only reason he didn't swear the oath was because he knew there was always chance one of the current warded suits could be damaged beyond repair; which would require him to ward a replacement (allowing his brothers to fly an unwarded suit not an option he was willing to contemplate).

The last thing he did before crashing inside of Wing Zero's cockpit again was absorb all of the printouts regarding Wing Zero's systems and basic mechanics. Over the course of the next thirty hours, while Harry slept tucked safely away inside of Wing Zero, Zechs had decoy suits made to look like all six of the Star Suits (made from mobile dolls painted to look like the suits) and the three Gundam suits (Wing Zero, Mercurius, and Vayeate) destroyed several hundred miles out from the surface of the moon to make it appear as if he was complying with his orders.

The actual suits were then moved into the same lab as Wing Zero by a handful of Zechs' most trusted subordinates (except for Dogstar which Harry had been carrying in his rucksack since it had been damaged). At the same time, Zayeed was moved into a less secure room (with a pair of trusted guards posted to 'guard him') and the scientists rounded up and returned to their cell which was a few rooms down from where the pilots were being kept.

In their cell, Duo and Wufei were using Harry's laptop to create the virus that would be loaded onto the base's network just before they escaped (in order to destroy any information OZ had on the three Gundams in their custody, the Star Suits, and any of the pilots). Heero, in the mean time, had taken over control of the base's surveillance cameras using the laptop that Zechs had managed to smuggle to him during his last round of 'interrogations' while Trowa was keeping an eye out for any of the guards checking on them. Quatre mostly spent that time sleeping because he had been overwhelmed by everyone's emotions and the rising tension throughout the base.

Any reprieve Zechs might have gained by showing the destruction of the decoy suits was quickly lost by his refusal to hand over the pilots or Harry. He'd used the excuse that the pilots still held valuable information regarding the Resistance (that he claimed he was slowly getting out of them) and that Harry was his ward. Inevitably, that meant that Zechs would be court-martialed and both the pilots and Harry shipped to Earth regardless of Zechs' wishes.

Not that Zechs, Harry, or the five pilots were going to allow that to happen.

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**AN:** _Not as much action going on in this chapter but lots of important little ripples have cropped up. Zechs ash officially gone AWOL, Zero is being upgraded, we see concrete evidence that the Gundam boys (Heero specifically) feel just as strongly about Harry as he feels about them (even going so far as to sacrifice themselves in order to protect him), and a ticking time bomb has been set off inside of the Lunar Base. The next chapter will be filled with lots of action as the many ripples that have been stirred crash together._

_Now, there are a couple things I'd like to address in response to a negative review I got for the last chapter (the ONLY negative review I might add). I didn't reply through the system because I wanted everyone to see my responses (yet another reason I can't stand the review system here). _

_To start with; Harry is apparently being limited. Well yeah, he's human; of course he's going to have limits. If I wanted a god-like Harry, I would have listed him as god-like instead of as merely powerful. He's not perfect, he's not all-knowing, and he's going to make poor decisions. He is a seventeen year old kid trying to survive in a society that is completely foreign to him and the only thing keeping him from completely loosing it are the bonds he's managed to make with his family. He is not weak, he is merely human._

_Next, Harry's apparent inactivity during his three months of his most recent imprisonment; he was kept pretty damn busy during those first two months cleaning up the messes he made and I don't know about you but scrubbing miles and miles of floors would certainly leave me with little time to think let alone plan an elaborate escape/rescue attempt. Personally, I think I'd be sleeping every chance I got if I had to clean up that many hallways and rooms. Plus he was being watched because Zechs didn't trust him not to try anything. His desire to save his brothers doesn't stop him from sacrificing himself to protect them and if that means keeping his head down and playing along then so be it because Harry would do anything for them._

_But Harry has magic… uh, so? Magic doesn't solve everything. Yes, he can turn invisible but Zechs found a way to negate that ability (or was the sprinkler system filled with paint too subtle?). He could have confounded people but how is he supposed to confound the hundreds or thousands of soldiers that are standing between him and his freedom? The spell only lasts so long and he can't exactly cast it on that many people all at once. Illusions are nice but they take a considerable amount of magic to weave and uh… in case you haven't noticed he's living inside of a highly advanced military base on the **moon** out in **space** that depends upon the technology that runs it and using that much magic would shut down the base and kill everyone inside._

_And as for Harry using the Imperius Curse… I'm sorry, my Harry detests the Unforgivable Curses and he will never use them because they are dark and evil curses that go against everything he stands for. I was disappointed that JKR had him use the Imperius Curse in book seven because I saw it as a cop out. Actually, I was disappointed in most all of book seven but that's beside the point. The Crucio in book five I can sort of understand because grief does things to a person. My Harry didn't see his godfather die though and his experiences with all three Unforgivables have been negative and have left scars on him mentally and emotionally. _

_Lastly; the idea that Harry shouldn't have to follow orders because the person who gave the order isn't standing right there next to him. Uh, hello, do the words Magical Oath ring a bell? Proximity has no bearing on the Oath Harry swore to Heero. Heero's order to not fight Zechs and cooperate with the man was reasonable because he gave the order in order to protect Harry and therefore Harry's magic required him to obey. They are prisoners out in space where flying off the handle and doing something reckless could easily get someone killed. On earth it wouldn't have been necessary to give such an order. _

_To everyone else who reviewed, thank you; your compliments on the story and your words of encouragement were greatly appreciated. I'll be spending a couple of hours later tonight replying to reviews. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and you can expect the next update tomorrow or Saturday. ~ Jenn_


	29. A World Turned Upside-Down

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:**_ This chapter has a few brief references to implied rape/molestation (as usual, no details are given). _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 28: A World Turned Upside-Down and Inside-Out

When Harry finally woke up, he spent an hour testing the wards on the suit with a series of very low powered spells since anything more powerful would overload the base's systems. Once he'd confirmed that there was no danger of his magic frying the systems or causing the wards to overload and explode, he began modifying the cockpit with magic. First he modified the pilot's chair (shrinking it and making it less bulky) in order to create more space so he would have room to install a pair of passenger seats (just in case they had to shuffle passengers for any reason) and have wall space to later add a small bathroom with a shower and a toilet (something he didn't exactly need at the moment).

Next he created the fold out bed that hung above the passenger seats so he could stand on it to better reach the ceiling in order to install a rack that would hold the shrunken mobile suits he would need to transport (which would at least include the Vayeate, Mercurius, and Dogstar). Once that was done, he dropped back down to the floor and created a pair of storage cupboards on the floor behind the pilot's chair to hold any extra weapons or supplies they managed to filch on their way out.

Once that was complete, he began adding the charms and enchantments that would protect both pilot and passengers from serious harm during both flight and battle; which included the cushioning charm being applied to the seats, the bed, and the wall behind the passenger seats and the various spells that protected the pilot from excessive speed and force. He then augmented the life support system and other internal systems next along with adding unbreakable charms to the various screens, monitors, and gauges inside of the cockpit. Adding all of those enchantments took Harry far longer than usual because he had to use the smallest amount of magic possible so that he didn't shut down the base with his spell casting; necessitating the need to cast each spell multiple times in order for them to properly take hold.

Satisfied that he'd done everything he could for the moment inside of the cockpit, Harry climbed into the pilot's seat and fired up the suit's internal computer and hacked into the base's network to start pulling the current schematics of the base (so he could compare it to the blueprints he'd absorbed months earlier) and an updated roster of the soldiers currently on base (so he had a rough idea of how many people he'd potentially need to worry about). He was in the middle of trying to take over the surveillance cameras of the base when he discovered that someone had already hacked into the security system.

Suspecting that it was one of his brothers that was responsible (he had given them his laptop after all), Harry quickly reverse hacked into his laptop using his personal security codes; startling Duo and Wufei who'd not expected to be interrupted as they finished the final touches on the viral program they'd been designing. Harry was more than a little bothered to learn that three was now less than six hours left until Zechs' replacement arrived as he didn't think he could finish prepping everything in such a short amount of time (he still had a few more protective charms to apply to the outer armor of the suit in addition to preparing the other suits for their escape).

Knowing he didn't have much time, Harry asked them to have Heero (who he learned had used another laptop to hack into the security network) loop the camera in the lab (which he'd already been doing) so that Harry could get started. He was given confirmation of the cameras already being disabled two minutes later and he wasted no time in shutting down the system and climbing out. His first task was to apply the last of the two most important protective charms to Wing Zero; strengthening and reinforcing the armor and protecting it from extreme temperatures as he replaced the last few pieces of armor on the suit.

He'd worry about the stealth spells and applying the defensive wards to prevent any one but him or his family from messing with the suit another time as they'd take far too long to integrate into the system at the moment (plus there was still a chance he'd be required to destroy the suit later on and he'd rather not have to fight his own ward). He thought about incorporating a few of the weapons from Dogstar (if only because he was more familiar with them) but decided against it because they were tailor made for the converted Taurus suit not the heavier Gundam. He did, however, create a series of hidden foot and handholds up the left leg of the suit to make accessing the cockpit easier.

Once he was finished with that, he dug out Dogstar and returned the damaged suit to full size so he could raid the suit's storage cupboards for anything he might need; including extra spacesuits for the scientists, Zayeed, and his brothers. That took him far longer than he had hoped and he was starting to get nervous but he tried to ignore the ticking of the clock as he re-shrank Dogstar and tucked it back into his rucksack. Next he dealt with the Vayeate and the Mercurius, shrinking them and casting feather light charms on them so he could store them alongside his old suit.

The system checks on his brothers' five suits revealed that only four of the five were fully operational and fully armed; Northstar having taken some damage while it had been in Une's possession. Superstar was low on ammunition for the Gatling guns that had been incorporated into the suit but that wouldn't affect their plans though so he wasn't overly worried about and the suit did have beam weaponry so it wasn't completely defenseless.

The five suits were then shrunk down and lightened before getting tucked away into Harry's rucksack so he could transport them through the base to the empty missile silo that his brothers would leave from. Wing Zero joined them a moment later. A glance at the clock showed that he had less than an hour remaining and he quickly cast the temperature regulating spell and disillusionment over himself before he slipped into the vent and made his way to the vent opening located right next to the stairs leading up to the surface level of the base.

His current goal was to locate Zechs so he could find out if the disabled missiles in the silos had ever been replaced before he raided a supply room for weapons and ammunition for his brothers. He had not bothered asking about the missiles sooner because he hadn't want to clue them to the problem if they didn't already know and therefore have to disable them all a second time if the need should arise. Harry found the man pacing in his office looking far more pensive than he would have expected when he slipped into Zechs' office unseen thanks to the inadvertent help of a soldier that had been on his way out.

He spent several long minutes just watching the man that he had considered the bane of his existence for the past nine or so months. He was just opening his mouth in order to get the man's attention without needing to cancel the spells he'd cast on himself (just in case someone walked in on them while he was there) when the office was invaded by the last person Harry had thought he'd see (Zechs having intentionally kept her away from Harry, not that the wizard knew that) and he had to scramble out of the way to avoid being bowled over by the agitated woman.

"Zechs!"

"What are you doing here, Une?" Zechs asked in slight confusion as if he too hadn't expected her to turn up. "I was under the impression that you were visiting the Colonies to fulfill your ambassadorial duties?"

"Is it true? Did the Romefeller Foundation truly remove Treize as the leader of OZ?"

"Yes," Zechs with a sigh that spoke volumes to both adults but confused Harry completely.

"Do you know why?"

"He disagreed with their decision to step up production of the mobile dolls and eliminate the need for ninety percent of their human forces. Why are you here Une?"

"And the order to execute five of the six the Star Pilots?"

"Also true," Zechs wearily agreed as he turned away from the woman to stare out the window. "I have been ordered to hand over all seven pilots so that they might be shipped to Earth."

Harry froze and felt a spike of irritation over that tidbit of information being kept from him by both Zechs and his brothers but quickly shoved the emotion aside as Une responded; her reply leaving Harry reeling slightly at the unexpectedness of it.

"You can't allow them to send any of the Star Pilots to Earth," Une whispered with wide-eyed fright. "They'll publicly execute the five older pilots them to set an example for the Resistance and then _he_ will retaliate and the world will bleed before it burns."

"What are you talking about?" Zechs asked as he whipped around to face the distraught woman once more and tilted his masked face to one side in pure confusion.

"You weren't there, Zechs; you didn't see _him_," Une cried in a voice that cracked with more than just a little fear. "I'll admit that I was wrong to allow and even encourage those men to take the child and make him think that they were there to use him but at the time I believed it was the only way to push him into cooperating. I had only wanted to frighten him into cooperating to prove that my methods were better than the kit gloves you'd been using on the boy. I never imagined… _he_ burned them alive, Zechs; I watched their bodies turn to ash right before my eyes and they hadn't actually done anything but grope him a bit."

It was a shock to see tears fill Une's eyes as she spoke of that terrible night; Harry had never imagined the woman capable of feeling either fear or regret. It also bothered him that the woman seemed to honestly fear him just as much as he'd feared her since that night as well. Shifting uncomfortably over the startling revelation, Harry listened as she continued.

"I know every one thinks I just hit my head too hard that night but I know what I saw, Zechs. That _child_ is the Angel of Death given flesh and those five pilots are the only thing standing between _him_ and all of humanity. If they are executed there will be no one to stop _him_ from burning the entire world. I tried to forget… but I see _him_ in my nightmares every time I close my eyes, Zechs. Please… don't allow them to take _him_ back to Earth. So long as _he_ is out here in space, then Treize will be safe from _his_ wraith because I led _him_ to believe it was Treize that ordered me to break _him_."

"It's out of my hands, Une," Zechs replied softly after a few minutes of silence. "I've done all I could; they will be here shortly to arrest me for insubordination and once that happens I will no longer be in a position to stop them from taking the pilots back to Earth."

As if speaking of what was to come was some kind of signal, half a dozen unfamiliar soldiers wearing slightly different uniforms than those that Harry knew were worn by soldiers on the base poured into the office with guns drawn and Harry yanked off his outer shirt so he could use his wings to launch himself up out of the way least he be found due to how crowded the small office had become. He was completely shocked when Zechs offered no resistance as two of the soldiers roughly cuffed his hands behind his back and striped him of his weapons. Two minutes later, the man Harry had once thought looked much like an older Snape (or maybe what he'd imagined Snape's father might look like) entered the room and sneered as he took in the tableau.

"Zechs Merquise, you are under arrest for refusing to comply with a direct order from your superiors," Ken Tsubarov imperiously declared with more than a little disdain coloring his voice. "You are hereby removed of your command of the Lunar Base. You will be held in custody until your trial which will be held via internet conference in seventeen hours time; after which, if found guilty, you will be executed forthwith."

Harry kept glancing between Tsubarov, Une, and Zechs as the scene unfolded below him, utterly confused as he'd thought Zechs was merely being replaced. And he honestly hadn't thought that the man would truly turn his back on OZ and the fact that he had was almost as surreal as the revelation that Une feared him.

There was another long silence as Zechs and Tsubarov seemed to stare at each other before the older man continued speaking, "Leniency may be granted in light of your many years of faithful service if you were to willingly sign over guardianship of the child to me and direct my men to his current location so that he might be taken into protective custody."

"I will never hand the child over to you, to OZ, or to the Romefeller Foundation," Zechs declared in a strong, clear voice and Harry stared at the masked man as he felt a shift in the icy coldness he always associated with the man. "And you will never lay your hands on him; he is well out of your reach."

"Take him down to one of the interrogation rooms and do what you must in order to convince him to relinquish guardianship of the boy. In the mean time; I want the rest of you to search the base from top to bottom; I want that boy found," Tsubarov ordered before turning to address Une. "Colonel Une, why are you here?"

"My ship needed to be resupplied and this was the closest base. While here, I decided to verify the rumors of the changes being made within OZ and sought out Lieutenant Zechs. It was at that point that I learned of his intent to betray OZ. I had just been about to arrest him myself when your men arrived and saved me the trouble of taking him into custody."

"Yes. Well, your presence is no longer needed here so please return to your duties."

"Of course, sir."

Harry ducked out of the office and followed Une for a short ways, his confusion growing as he knew she'd just lied to the Snape-a-like man without any hesitation. There was a possibility that she'd actually lied to Zechs earlier but Harry somehow knew that the fear she'd displayed to Zechs had not been feigned. When the woman stopped just a few feet away from Zechs' office and glanced back, he saw another glimpse of her naked fear before she suddenly donned the cold demeanor he well remembered from his short stint in captivity in Luxembourg.

In that instant he understood that her mind had been fractured at some point; recognizing the signs from the mind magic books he'd read. He felt a brief pang of uncomfortable guilt at the idea that he might have been the one to break her when she'd been seeking to break him but he shoved it away as he landed on the ground and watched as she turned away and disappeared around the corner.

_The world has gone mad_, Harry thought to himself as he spun on his heel, pulled his shirt back on, and headed towards the nearest set of stairs so he could head down to the prison floor. He made a single side trip to raid one of the weapon supply rooms for a couple dozen pistols, plenty of ammunition, and extra power pacs (for the beam pistols) before he continued on his way. He slipped back into the ventilation ducts the moment he reached the bottom floor (to avoid the soldiers that were now searching through the base for him) and headed towards the prison cells intent on collecting his brothers and the five scientists.

He'd barely been crawling through the vent shafts for a few minutes when the sound of flesh hitting flesh and pained grunts filtered into the vents. Biting his lip, Harry hesitated for a split second before he cursed himself as ten kinds of fools as he followed the sounds to their origin. Glancing through the grate, Harry found a maskless Zechs being restrained by a pair of soldiers as a third soldier steadily beat the tar out of him.

"Are you ready to sign over custody of the boy now?" the soldier holding Zechs' left arm demanded when the third soldier paused a moment to catch his breath.

"Never."

"The longer you refuse to cooperate the worse it will be for you," the same soldier stated.

"You think I care what you do to me? Unlike you, I am not about to hand a child over to those that would cruelly subject him to inhuman experimentations simply because he was born with a Talent."

"You know, Zechs, I think I actually like the fact that you are refusing to cooperate," the soldier beating Zechs declared as he punched Zechs in the stomach again before backhanding him across the face. "I always thought you were far too full of yourself and felt that you needed someone to take you down a peg or two. That I'm the one to do so is only icing on the cake."

"You think I care what you think?" Zechs asked quietly as he spat blood from his mouth. "At least I know that I will be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience when all is said and done. Can you say the same?"

Even more so than what he'd witnessed in Zechs' office, watching the man calmly accept a beating twisted everything Harry thought he knew about the man. Sure, the man had sworn he only wished to protect Harry on several occasions but Harry hadn't really believed him; thinking the man more than a little delusional. Seeing him calmly taking every blow thrown at him over a simple signature on a meaningless form forced Harry to finally acknowledge the possibility that he might have misjudged the man, just a little. Then irritation flooded Harry as he realized the man meant to die for him; as if he had the right to sacrifice himself when Harry couldn't stand him.

Praying he wouldn't regret what he was about to do, Harry slipped his custom cards out of his sleeve and used one of them to cut the screws and hinges holding the grate in place. It was almost comical the way all four men in the room below jumped as the sound of the grill hitting the floor shot through the small room like a bullet. Zechs was then thrown to the floor as the three soldiers pulled out their guns and searched the room at gunpoint in an attempt to find the source of the disturbance. An instant later, three flashes of silver shot through the room before all three soldiers tumbled to the floor; one of Harry's cards firmly embedded in each of their throats.

"Guess they weren't in the mood for a cutthroat game of poker," Harry mused morbidly when he shimmered into view two minutes later as he crouched down beside the man who'd been hitting Zechs.

"What the hell are you doing, Taliesin?" Zechs demanded weakly as he sat up and stared at Harry as the winged teen removed the now bloody cards and calmly wiped the blood off on the soldiers' uniforms (the twenty year old purposely ignoring Harry's rather tasteless pun).

"Something stupid, I'm certain," Harry replied as he turned to face Zechs. "You know, there might be hope for you yet. I never thought it possible… and just because I'm here and I happen to be saving your ass doesn't mean I like you or anything. I still don't need a father either. Now turn around and give me your hands so I can unlock the cuffs."

"You were supposed to get your brothers and get out."

"Yeah, well; I saw you doing something stupid. I'll have to ask Heero to tell you what happens to the idiots that think I will allow them to sacrifice themselves for no reason."

"I was not going to allow them to take you," Zechs softly stated with conviction as he turned so Harry could reach the cuffs.

"Idiot… all you had to do was tell them I was locked up tighter than a Victorian woman's corset and that you'd tell them how to find me if they would allow you to leave. You could have hidden in your secret bunker or escaped on a ship or something."

"They would have just shot me down the moment they knew I lied to them."

"Maybe, maybe not… moot point right now. Can you walk or am I going to have to drag your pathetic ass through this base?"

"I can walk. Give me their guns and I will clear the way for you."

"Don't be stupid or I will knock you unconscious and I really don't have time to haul you around; in case you didn't notice I'm on a bit of a tight schedule here. The rules are really simple; you go where I tell you to and you do what I tell you to or I will stun you, string you up by your feet, and curse you twelve ways from Sunday or until you beg for mercy."

"After everything I've done, everything I've said, and the threats I made… why?"

"I have no fucking clue and I'm going to be asking Heero to find me a shrink when all of this is over because I think there is something seriously wrong with me right now. Now please extract your head out of your nether regions, grab a couple of pistols from your friends here, and stay close; I'm not going to be happy if you slow me down."

With a bewildered Zechs following behind him, Harry used one of his cards to cut through the locks on the door. Just outside the door they ran into a small group of soldiers and Harry prepared to cut them down with his cards only for Zechs to ask him to wait. It turned out they'd been coming to break Zechs free themselves and Harry had simply beat them to the punch. Harry bluntly told them that they had less than two hours to gather all of the soldiers loyal to Zechs and get them off the moon or they'd all die when Harry destroyed the base. Once they left those men behind, Harry made his way quickly to where his brothers were being kept only to stumble to a stop when he heard the sound of several vents snapping shut.

"They've cut the oxygen to the prison cells," Zechs announced. "He plans to kill both the pilots and the scientists in their cells instead of taking them back to Earth. Once he knows I'm free, he'll probably cut the life support to the entire floor."

"Troublesome but not a problem," Harry replied as he began trotting forward once again. "Can you open the doors or will they have changed the codes on you now that you've been stripped of your command?"

"They'll have locked the doors from the command room prior to shutting off the oxygen to the cells and the manual locks will be disabled; a security precaution to prevent breakouts. Reopening the vents would require someone to manually unlock the vents from the command center."

"I thought as much but needed to be certain. I hope Heero is still disrupting the cameras because things are about to get a bit messy down here and I don't need any distractions."

They reached the pilots' cell just a few minutes later and Harry attempted to use another one of his cards to cut through the door only to find the door was thicker than his cards were long (something he'd forgotten). Cursing vehemently, Harry pounded on the door, told his brothers to clear off to one side (in case he needed to blast the door open), and waited for them to confirm that they were out of the way. Harry then told Zechs to step back as he pulled out his wand and eyed the door for a moment while running through a list of spell options in his head until he came up with one that he thought would work without putting his brothers at risk.

Zechs started to ask him what he was doing but Harry shushed him as he concentrated on transfiguring the metal door into paper (a spell he'd gotten from the Annoying Spells book). It was a low enough powered spell that it wouldn't affect the entire base and just powerful enough to be quick and effective. Harry then kicked through the thick paper door after slashing at it with a pair of his knives.

"Good timing, Taliesin," Trowa pronounced as he crawled through the small opening. "It was getting a little stuffy in there. Oh… I see you have unexpected company."

"You know me; can't stand to see people kick a starved puppy and I figured one more little stray would fit right in with the rest of the mongrels I call brothers until I can pawn him off on someone else," Harry quipped with a roll of his eyes before he glanced up and down the hallway. "One of you happen to know which cell the scientists are hanging out in?"

"Two doors down," Zechs replied robotically before one of his five brothers could speak up.

Harry trotted off towards the cell in question without waiting for all of his brothers to slip through the opening he'd made while Zechs stared after him. Harry ignored the hole being bored through his back as he wasted no time in turning the next door to paper and weakening the structure before kicking through it the same as he'd done with the previous door.

"Did he just…?" Zechs asked as he finally looked away from Harry to stare at the five pilots.

"Nah… you're just imagining things," Duo declared with a smug grin as he picked up one of the fragments Harry had torn from the door to the pilots' former cell to show that it had already changed back into metal. "See… OZ has just been using shoddy materials for their doors."

Red lights began flashing and an alarm sounded through the entire floor as Harry returned to the group with the five scientists hesitantly following along behind him. Harry scowled up at the lights as he stopped beside Heero and began pulling several of the purloined pistols from inside of his bag and distributing them to the pilots along with extra boxes of bullets for the standard pistols and power pacs for the beam pistols.

"We don't have a lot of time to waste right now as they've got soldiers hunting through the entire base for me," Harry stated as he dug back into the rucksack to grab the spacesuits he'd pulled from storage and handed those out next so that they could immediately put on in case they cut the oxygen supply to the rest of the lower floor. "They've also moved your scheduled execution up a few days; which is why they just tried to snuff you quietly in your cells instead of going to the trouble of shipping you back to Earth for a public trial in the hopes of preventing an escape attempt."

Harry ignored the winces his brothers made as he gave them each a pointed glare for leaving that bit of information out when they briefed him even as he continued, "I know we originally planned to use all five of your Star Suits to get everyone out of here but we're going to have to adjust the seating arrangements since Northstar took some heavy damage at some point; most likely back before I got caught, when they were trying to figure out what it would take to destroy one of the Star Suits."

Once everyone had pulled on a suit, Harry turned away from the group with the intention of leading the way to the empty silo his brothers were going to use as their exit point only to be pulled to a stop by the scientist he recognized as Dr. J, when the man grabbed hold of Harry's elbow to gain his attention. Harry started and jerked his arm free out of habit even as he spun back around to face the older man.

"Sorry, lad, didn't mean to startle you," Dr. J stated as he intently studied Harry; this being the first time any of the scientists had been allowed to get within five feet of Harry (due to Zechs previously hovering over the teen and keeping the five older men well away from the teen during the rare moments they'd been in the same room). "You said that you were short a suit; we can lead you to a pair of newly constructed Gundams that we began building after Heero and Trowa were captured. We originally intended for our protégés to use them to escape and destroy the base."

"I already rendered the Mercurius and the Vayeate inoperable," Harry replied as he turned away from the man he half hated for the way he'd manipulated Heero into trying to self destruct all those months earlier.

"No, those suits are practically useless as we intentionally built flaws into them that could be easily countered by the original Gundams," Master O countered gruffly. "We secretly recreated two of the original Gundams and included several upgrades and modifications that would allow them to function out in space; unlike the original five."

"How is that possible; I've had my men watching you constantly?" Zechs demanded with a frown.

"You don't think we don't have a few tricks up our sleeves?" Doktor S mockingly inquired as he arched an eyebrow at his former captor. "We spent hours working on those suits from the moment we saw you drag Trowa and the other boy down into the cells."

"We don't need any more suits and two unprotected Gundams aren't going to make any difference," Harry stated dismissively as he attempted yet again to walk away.

"Can we take even the smallest risk that OZ could get their hands on whatever remains of those two suits after you destroy the base?" Heero softly asked which had Harry hunching his shoulders as he glanced back to scowl at his brother. "Better to take them with us and keep them out of OZ's hands than take a chance; that's why you grabbed the Mercurius and the Vayeate after all."

"Fine; where are the stupid robots being kept?"

All five scientists smiled and Harry eyed them distrustfully until Trowa walked up and slapped him on the back of the head, "Quit stalling, Taliesin; we're running out of time."

Harry huffed but waved to the scientists to lead the way. The group was led back into the scientists' former cell and shown to a well hidden secret passageway that ended in an underground facility where two very familiar suits were secured against the wall. Harry stared up at the recreated Heavyarms, taking in the double barreled Gatling gun that served as a left arm and noting that the suit looked far more streamlined than the original bulky Gundam; it was clearly designed to maneuver through space and far more battle oriented than the original (if that was even possible).

The other suit was just as familiar; it wasn't as if Harry would ever forget Wing. Like Heavyarms, it had been streamlined for space travel and had added firepower; including a custom buster rifle that looked suspiciously similar to the one Wing Zero had been equipped with. In fact, if not for the fact that he could tell the suit in front of him was smaller than Zero, had a slightly different chest configuration, and lacked the oversized wing-like thrusters that Zero had on its back (which allowed for greater mobility in space) the new Wing would have been a dead ringer for the formidable suit that was tucked inside of Harry's rucksack.

"Please do not render this one into a useless scrapheap," Dr. J dryly ordered as he looked right at Harry and tapped the Wing clone with his cane.

"Go to hell you malignantly manipulative mumph…" Harry heatedly began only for his words to be smothered by Heero's hand as the taller pilot stepped up behind him and glared at Dr. J over Harry's shoulder.

"Do not antagonize Taliesin needlessly, Dr. J," Heero advised coldly. "He has a short temper and he still hasn't forgiven you for ordering me to destroy the original Wing Gundam after OZ threatened the Colonies that day. Taliesin, you need to calm down and focus on the job at hand."

Harry shrugged out of Heero's hands and sent a heated glare the scientist before he stalked up to the reconstructed Wing and promptly shorted it out as he cut it down to size and lightened it before tucking it into his back. He then cast another glare and a feral smirk over his shoulder as he addressed Dr. J, "There, it's not completely useless now; it can be used as a paperweight."

The five original Gundam pilots smothered their laughter at the look of stunned dismay on Dr. J's face as well as the gob smacked look of understanding on Professor G's face (the latter having just realized that Taliesin had been responsible for the disappearing suits on the day he'd been captured). Harry's smirk turned smug at that point as he gave the new Heavyarms the same treatment before he headed towards the exit.

"Are we leaving now or what?" Harry demanded when no one immediately made to follow him.

Five minutes later, the group was on the move once more and Harry pushed aside his irritation at the scientists to focus on what he was doing (as he'd been ordered) least he snuff up their escape like he had the first rescue attempt four months earlier. As they traveled through the halls Harry and Heero quietly argued back and forth about the new seating arrangements; Heero unhappy with Harry's decision to include Zechs after what they'd discussed previously. In the end, Heero reluctantly backed down once Harry explained his reasoning (which had more to do with Zechs' usefulness in keeping those soldiers loyal to the man off their back than it did with any desire to actually save the man).

Trowa, Wufei, and Duo would be leaving first; taking the five scientists and Heero with them with Trowa collecting the long abandoned shuttle that Quatre, Wufei, and Harry had arrived in over four months earlier. Quatre, with Harry and Zechs' help, would be collecting Zayeed immediately after that before they left as well. Once they were all out and clear of the moon, Harry would destroy the Lunar Base using Wing Zero. The only potential problem was that Harry needed to give the men following Zechs enough time to get clear of the base before he destroyed it (the teen not wishing to have the lives of innocents on his hands).

Upon reaching the empty silo that Wufei and Harry had used to enter the base four months earlier, Harry left Quatre and Zechs in the antechamber to guard their backs while he led the rest of their small group into the pressure chamber. The minute he was given the green light, he opened the door to the missile silo and began restoring the Star Suits one at a time, starting with Superstar (something all five scientists paid close attention to, though they couldn't really see anything because Harry's wand was tucked inside its holster beneath his spacesuit).

Once Trowa climbed into his suit (along with Heero and Doktor S) the green eyed teen moved his suit up to make room for the next one. Harry restored Deathstar next and helped Duo get the next two scientists (Professor G and Instructor H) up into their seats while snagging an extra spacesuit from Duo's storage cupboard for Zayeed (since he'd given the original suit he'd taken for the man to Zechs). Dragonstar was the final suit prepped and Harry grudgingly helped Wufei get Dr. J (the wizard still upset with the man) and Master O up into the suit. Once Wufei fired up the suit, Harry slipped back inside and locked the doors just seconds before Trowa blasted his way out of the silo and the three pilots took off.

"Zechs, did you ever replace the disabled missiles in the other silos?" Harry asked as he strode back into the main part of the base five minutes later.

"What disabled missiles?"

"The day you caught me in your trap; you'd made a comment about the havoc I'd caused around the base," Harry started as he headed for the nearest stairs. "Did you have anyone inspect the occupied missile silos at any time after that day?"

"No… they are only inspected twice a year and we'd completed an inspection just weeks before you broke onto the base so the next one wasn't due for another two months; why?"

"Ah… no particular reason," Harry drawled as he shared a conspiratorial grin with Quatre. "Just wanted to know how effective the external defenses would be against my brothers as they make their escape."

"What did you do? You said something about the missiles being disabled."

"Yeah… you remember the state Wing Zero was in after I disabled him? I really need a better name for him than that if I'm going to be stuck flying that monstrosity for any length of time. Anyway, the missiles that are currently occupying said silos are pretty much in the same state as Zero was."

"They'll just replace them with missiles from storage and repair them later," Zechs pointed out.

"Yeah… but first they'd have to be able to access the silos. I might have given them a few obstacles to get through that are exceedingly difficult to uh… remove. And since one of them has sat there for four months… well let's just say that it is going to be a rather unpleasant task that would take years to clear and I don't plan on giving them that time."

"You know what… I don't want to know," Zechs muttered as he shook his head.

"Huh… maybe hell has started to freeze over after all," Harry mused drawing a confused look from Quatre and a grimace from Zechs; the latter immediately getting the reference to a comment Harry had made earlier in the week when he'd eavesdropped on Harry and Heero's conversation.

The next snag in their escape plan appeared in the form of a dozen soldiers currently facing off against Lady Une and a young teen Harry had never seen before. There were additional dead and dying soldiers littered up and down the hall, indicating that the current battle had been going on for several minutes already. The problem was that the entire group was occupying the hallway right outside of the room where Zayeed was currently being kept. Even as they stumbled upon the group, Une was shot down as she sought to prevent Tsubarov's soldiers from executing Quatre's father.

"Merlin's ruptured left…" Harry cursed loudly, drawing the attention of all twelve soldiers plus the young lady that had been fighting beside Une. "Couldn't you scum sucking diseased riddled bugbears have found another hallway to pollute with your pestilent presence? I swear this day just keeps getting worse and if I get a migraine out of this someone is going to get the hexing of their life so I don't have to suffer alone."

"It's the kid! Kill the other two but take him alive!" some fool yelled as their guns all swung towards Harry in a synchronized move that looked rehearsed.

"You're going to have to take a rain check," Harry declared as he flooded the hall with his cards while Quatre and Zechs fired into the huddle mass of soldiers.

It didn't take long to cut all twelve of them down; most of them falling to Harry's cards. The girl just stared at Harry with wide, frightened eyes before she meeped and fainted. Harry shook his head and used his wand to summon and clean his cards before returning them to the pocket he'd taken them from.

"That's twice that damned woman has attempted to intervene today."

"You were in my office when I was arrested," Zechs stated as he turned to Harry in shock. "That's how you knew how to find me and how you learned about the execution orders."

"Way to state the obvious but for the record it was the sound of you being beaten to a pulp that led me to you," Harry snarked as he passed the extra spacesuit he was carrying to his brother. "Quatre, it might be best if you hurry up and collect your father; we'll probably have more company soon if they've managed to regain control of their cameras."

Quatre took the suit and slipped through into the room that the woman and the girl had been guarding while Harry walked up to stand over the injured Une and her unconscious helper. He glowered at Une for a moment before he grimaced as he recalled the abject fear he'd seen her display earlier when she'd been alone with Zechs.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with the two of you?" Harry wondered out loud after another minute had passed.

"If you leave them here, they will die," Zechs pointed out.

"I'm well aware of that. I actually don't have a problem taking the girl with us because she doesn't deserve to die with the rest of the scum," Harry snapped back as he carefully shifted the girl to one side. "What I do have a problem with is having anything to do with the wretched woman beside her. Why the hell couldn't she have stayed the same cold-hearted bitch I remembered from my nightmares? She has no fucking right to be human enough to feel fear or regret after what she was going to allow those men do to me. She calls me a monster but can't see her own hands are covered with the blood of innocents while all I ever did was protect myself and my brothers from the likes of her."

"Will you be able to live with yourself if you just leave her here to die?" Quatre asked softly as he reappeared with his father in tow in time to hear the last half of Harry's angry rant.

"No," Harry tightly replied as he scowled at the woman.

Quatre carefully checked on the condition of the wounded woman and tended said wounds to prevent her from dying of blood loss as Harry turned his back so he wouldn't have to see the woman. Growling, Harry realized that he was two spacesuits short and they were running out of time. Stepping off a ways down the hall, Harry pulled Northstar out of his bag and laid it flat on the ground before restoring it to side so he could crawl inside and grab another pair of suits. By the time he dropped back down to the floor and returned Northstar to his rucksack, Zechs had brought the young girl back around and was helping her up off the floor. She flinched when Harry passed her the smaller of the two suits but she at least didn't faint again.

"Tsubarov's men took control of Une's command ship when he learned she'd lied to him about something," the girl explained in response to a question from Zechs as she struggled into the suit while trying to keep an eye on Harry's every move as he glared at Une while Quatre and a slightly dazed Zayeed worked to get her into the spacesuit he'd tossed to them. "I'd hidden from the troops and snuck into the base to find Une to let her know and I found her in the control room turning on the life support system to the lower levels so she could free the other pilots. When she learned they were also going to execute the pilot of the rogue Gundam we headed down here only…"

"We don't have time to just sit here and chit chat," Harry groused in order to cut off the girl's story, unwillingly to hear any more about how Une had changed her spots once again. He then half spun on his heel to kill one of the wounded soldiers that had just attempted to shoot Quatre in the back and disarmed the rest of the downed soldiers (both the living and the dead) before he added, "We're sitting ducks and the others are probably facing a large number of mobile dolls out there right now and if one of them gets hurt; I'm going to be pissed."

"You're a right cold-hearted prick you know that?" the girl cried as she scurried over to one of her fellow soldiers and immediately began treating his injuries.

"And you are the delusional bootlicker of a murderous bitch," Harry shot back as he pulled her out of the way and used his wand to bandage the soldier's wounds.

Another three soldiers were subsequently treated by Harry each time the girl moved on to check her fallen comrades (much to the girl's ire due to the way he manhandled her each time she got in his way and repeatedly stopped her attempts to give the others first aide) before he declared that they had wasted enough time and began leading their motley group away from the area towards the closest hanger.

They ran into several small groups of Tsubarov's men as they moved as quickly through the base as they could burdened with six wounded as they were. When they finally reached the nearest hanger, it was to find it filled to bursting with mobile dolls being readied for deployment and dozens of soldiers. Cursing up a blue streak, Harry slammed the door shut and sealed it with a quick spell (knowing any spell powerful enough to disable or destroy all of the dolls at once would also affect a good portion of the base or blow up the immediate area and catch them in the backlash) before closing his eyes and running through the blue prints of the base in his mind.

"Hanger eighteen should be empty," Zechs suggested when he assumed that Harry was at a lost as to where to go and what to do.

"Why will that hanger be any emptier than the others?" Harry asked as he opened his eyes to glance down the hall in the direction of the hanger in question.

"Because that is where I was housing the Tallgeese and my personal shuttle."

"Which means that it will be heavily guarded by Tsubarov's men but relatively free of the dolls. We're going to have to hurry; the others will think something's gone wrong if we don't get out of here soon."

Harry started jogging towards the hanger in question as he glanced down at his watch. He then glanced back behind him and let his eyes land first on the young girl (who scowled at him) before shifting them to the unconscious Une (which had him scowling). Pulling his eyes away from her, Harry scanned the grim faces of the four injured soldiers that were gamely trudging along despite their injuries. He then caught Quatre's eyes and his expression softened when the blonde gave him a small, encouraging smile that was filled with more than a little pain due to the wealth of negative emotions flying about.

Next, Harry took in Zayeed's gaunt form; the man having really suffered during his time trapped in his mind within Wing Zero. Zayeed flushed and looked away and Harry guessed that the man was recalling their battle and the things he had said to Harry. Finally, Harry's eyes landed on Zechs' battered face and he felt his perception of him shifting further as he noted the pained expression on his face and in the stiff way he held himself in order to avoid jarring the injuries that had been inflicted upon him during his short stent as a prisoner.

Jerking his eyes back around to the front, Harry shoved his conflicting thoughts out of his mind as he tried to focus on the matter hand. They were nearly to their destination when another group of soldiers rounded the corner and both sides raised their weapons only for the girl to sharply cry out for them all to hold their fire; she apparently recognized the men as part of Une's crew. They attempted to take Une off their hands but Harry told them they would not have a chance in hell of getting her back to their ship and taking back control of said ship burdened with the injured woman before the base was destroyed. Harry told him he would give them thirty minutes to gather up those men and women that were loyal to Une and take back their ship but beyond that they were S.O.L.

The teen was a bit pissed at Harry's heavy handed handling of the situation but Harry simply told her she was welcome to run off with the soldiers. She refused to leave Une's side though (saying she didn't trust Harry one bit) and doggedly followed their group into the hanger bay (the four wounded soldiers Harry had treated sticking close to her side). Inside they found another two squads of soldiers waiting; only instead of Tsubarov's or Une's men they were Zechs' men led by a young captain named Trant Clark. They'd been guarding Zechs' shuttle under the belief that their leader would use it to escape.

"I don't have time to listen to any arguments you guys are about to put up," Harry declared as he recognized the young captain as the leader of the men that had attempted to rescue Zechs earlier. "I have a growing headache and will seriously hurt the first person to open their mouths right now. This damn breakout slash rescue has been nothing but one disaster after another and any more delays will not be met with sunshine and daisies. You gentlemen will guard the doors and get that pile of junk Zechs calls a shuttle prepped for flight."

There was a brief moment when it looked like Captain Clark would argue anyway but a discreet headshake from Zechs had him complying with Harry's orders. Once they were out of his way, Harry pulled out Rockstar and restored the suit so he could help Quatre and Zayeed load the unconscious Une into the cockpit along with one of the less injured soldiers that had been with their group. The girl (whose name Harry still had not yet learned) attempted to join them but Harry simply pulled her down off the suit as Quatre closed the cockpit door.

"There is no room for you in Rockstar; it'll be crowded enough with those three in there with Quatre," Harry stated when the girl tried to punch him. "You have the option of taking the shuttle, riding with me, or staying behind." Harry strode away from the girl when he noted Zechs heading towards the taller than normal mobile suit that Heero had fought against during the OZ ambush that saw Harry faking Wing's detonation.

He'd almost caught up to the man when he called out, "I hope you aren't planning anything stupid."

"I'm going to provide cover for the rest of you to escape," Zechs declared as he made to climb up into the cockpit.

"Yeah… thought so," Harry rasped. "You have to the count of three to back away from the suit before I stun you and intentionally fry the systems in that monstrosity. You and I both know you are currently not in a condition to pilot that suit; I read the specs on it and know that it will do you more harm than the Mercurius did to me when I was testing it."

When Zechs refused to be deterred, Harry suited actions to words and knocked Zechs out before shrinking, lightening, and tossing the Tallgeese into his rucksack (making more than one person gape in shock – very few of the soldiers assigned to the base having ever witnessed him manipulating the suits before). Scowling fiercely, Harry brought Wing Zero out of his rucksack and restored the suit; causing Zayeed to exclaim and curse from inside of Rockstar's cockpit (not that Harry could hear him). Harry then scrambled up into the cockpit of the Gundam before levitating Zechs up after him. He was in the process of strapping the unconscious man into the fold down bed (using magic to give him extra protection) when the teen and yet another soldier scrambled up into the cockpit.

"You aren't leaving us behind; who knows what you'll do to Captain Une if we're not there to protect her."

Harry sneered at her as he stepped around her and slammed the door to the cockpit shut so the rest of the men wouldn't hear what he was about to say. He then turned to glare up at the slightly taller girl as he angrily hissed, "That woman you seem to worship is a heartless bitch who authorized three of her soldiers to _play_ with me while she watched. I don't know if you've ever had the misfortune of being raped but let me tell you it is far from pleasant and it is an experience I'd rather not ever have to go through again. So kindly shut the fuck up or get the hell out of my suit."

Turning away from the shocked girl and the equally shocked soldier beside her, Harry began securing the various suits he'd stolen and the two damaged Star Suits into the special rack he'd created to hold them. He then locked his rucksack into the storage bin before climbing into the pilot's seat and firing up half of the suit's systems. He noted both the girl and the soldier meekly slipping into the passenger seats from the corner of his eye as he activated the external communication system and warned the soldiers still inside of the hanger that they had five minutes to get to their shuttle. Harry then switched channels and hailed his brothers.

"Taliesin here, what's the status quo out there guys?"

"_A veritable flood of mobile dolls, an annoyin' spaceship, and da occasional laser fire from da base but oddly enough no missiles. Ya wouldn't know anything about that would ya, kiddo?_" Duo replied.

"_What the hell is taking you so long, Taliesin? You were supposed to be out of there close to an hour ago,_" Heero demanded a heartbeat later.

"_The shuttle has suffered some minor neglect but we should have it up and running here shortly. So far no one has noticed us hanging out here on the surface. Everything alright little brother?_" Trowa cut in next.

"Yeah it's been _just peachy_ here and I've been picking up strays left and right," Harry barked back with pure sarcasm. "Quatre and I ran into a bit of trouble and picked up some excess and unwanted baggage. I'm going to demand professional help after all this shit is over and someone else is going to pay for my insanity to be treated because I sure as hell ain't paying for it."

"_I noticed ya said nothing about da lack of missiles._"

"_Does he need to say it for you to know he's responsible for the sabotage of the base's entire missile field?_" Wufei inquired drolly.

"Ha, ha, Wufei; as I recall you helped me set those up by looping the cameras while I worked that day," Harry shot back with a snort.

"_Zechs' men are ready to go, Taliesin; they just hailed me asking for orders,_" Quatre announced.

"Gotta go guys, we'll be out in T minus two minutes and thirty seconds. I suggest once you see Wing Zero that you flee as far and as fast as you can because I plan on blowing this base sky high… and yes I do know there is no actual sky out on the moon, Duo."

"_Do try to leave the moon in one piece, Taliesin,_" Heero dryly instructed. "_It would be hard to explain to all the kiddies around the world why they suddenly have two broken moons or no moon at all._"

Harry laughed in response and switched back to the external comm. unit so he could address the shuttle, "I suggest you all get your asses into the shuttle before I open hanger door up the old fashioned way; Rockstar will leave first, followed by the shuttle, with me and Wing Zero bringing up the rear… and I really need a new name for this suit. I'd call him Prongster but my father had better taste and Padfoot already had Dogstar named after him. Anyway, Quatre, please send the boys in the shuttle our private frequency so we don't have to keep switching."

Shaking off his roving thoughts, Harry switched back over to the other channel as he reached out, turned on the rest of the suit's systems (including the Zero Interface), and grabbed hold of the suit's controls. He tensed for a moment, expecting the Zero System to immediately attack his mind, only to relax when nothing seemed to happen. Sighing softly, he checked to make certain that everyone had boarded the shuttle before he walked the suit forward and had it kneel down so he could dig Wing Zero's hands beneath the lip of the door. He raised the suit back up to its feet fifteen seconds later and the door folded up like an accordion with a loud squeal and everything not nailed down within the hanger (aside from the two suits and the shuttle) was sucked out through the door in an instant as all of the air was pulled out into the vacuum of space.

Rockstar, lifted a few feet off the ground, shifted into flight mode, and slipped beneath the door ten seconds later and Harry monitored Quatre's flight before having Wing Zero wave at the shuttle carrying Zechs' men and the other two wounded soldiers so they knew it was clear for them to head out next (Rockstar having cleared the way for them). Harry slipped out next, staying in suit mode as he split the custom buster rifle into two parts so he could deal with the mobile dolls that turned to attack him the moment he exited the hanger. He picked off a few that were tailing the shuttle before shifting so he could cut down those that were still on the ground.

Each shot he fired seemed to make the headache that had been building since he'd first entered Zechs' office several hours earlier stab deeper into his brain until suddenly it felt as if his head was being split in two. Letting out a scream of pure agony, Harry tried to reach up to clutch his head only to find that he couldn't move his arms. The last thing he heard before he was sucked into his mindscape was all five of his brothers calling out his name in concern and fear.

Inside of his mindscape, the first thing Harry noted was the new damage that hadn't been there the last time he visited his inner mind. The second thing he noticed was the seemingly larger than life replica of the Wing Zero Gundam crashing across his mindscape without any care as to what it crushed beneath his feet. Angry at having his mind invaded so callously, Harry immediately attacked the intruder; activating defenses he hadn't thought he'd need in this world but had made anyway because they had been part of the learning process. The battle for dominance seemed to drag on for hours until Harry finally managed to cage the intrusion and he staggered up to the now man sized suit and glared at it through the bars.

"You're as bad as Moony during his furry time of the month," Harry declared tiredly. As if comparing the suit to the memory of the werewolf was the signal the mental image of Wing Zero was waiting for, the suit morphed into a large, metal wolf and howled long and loud before rolling over and baring its throat submissively. Harry gave the suit a baleful glare as he arched an eyebrow and mused, "I can't call you Moony, there was only one Moony just as there was only one Padfoot but I suppose I could call you Wolfstar. I better not have to fight you every time we fly together though; otherwise I'm going to be pissed. I don't need the headache or the extra work to repair the parts of my mind that you've trampled."

The mechanical wolf whined and rolled over to grovel in the ground at Harry's feet inside of the cage and Harry banished the cage with a thought before scratching the metal monstrosity behind the ear with one hand. He smiled a bit when the once feral wolf rolled his tongue out and figuratively melted into a pile of goo over that small bit of attention. After a few minutes, the wolf shook itself off and trotted off into Harry's mindscape and began digging about as he put Harry's inner mind back to rights; the Zero Interface actually repairing the damage it had caused.

"Good boy… you behave now, I have some brothers I need to reassure and some mobile dolls to turn into chew toys for you."

The wolf gave one last robotic yip as Harry turned away from his mindscape and stepped back into his body to an aching head and blood running down his face. Groaning, Harry shook off the pain as best he could while he tried to determine just how long he'd been out of it and assess the severity of the physical damage he'd received from the forced mind intrusion. The loud calls from his brothers weren't helping though and he had just a glimpse of two Star Suits circling protectively around him through the external cameras before a frightened face popped up right in front of him and he jerked back and cried out at the shock of it.

"What happened? Are you alright? You blanked out for about ten minutes after you screamed," his reluctant female passenger demanded before she gasped as she caught sight of his eyes through his helmet's face plate.

"Ten minutes? Huh, felt like ten hours. I'm fine now. Best return to your seat; things are about to get a little interesting," Harry replied after catching his breath. He then switched the communication system from audio only to audio and video feed so he let his brothers see and hear that he was just fine. "Sorry guys, Wolfstar tore through my mind unexpectedly; we're fine now."

"_Taliesin? Harry is that you? Are you in control?_"

"Who else is it going to be in here, Trowa?" Harry asked back as he frowned up at the small square holding Trowa's face. When he noted the trepidation on his brother's face, Harry glanced to the other four squares and noted that more than one of them flinched back a touch when they made eye contact with him. "What's wrong? Is it the blood? It's just a nosebleed and a small trickle from where my old scar split open guys."

"_We're just a little concerned that it might be Zero talking instead of you_," Heero slowly pointed out; the blue eyed pilot staring at Harry's mismatched eyes which were glowing different colors; his green eye glowing gold and his blue eye glowing red (though Harry wasn't aware of that at the moment).

"It's all me, Heero. The Zero system invaded my mind but I've subdued it for now; it shouldn't give me any more trouble. You guys need to get out of here though so I can let Wolfstar do his thing."

"_Wolfstar…?_"

"Told you the suit needed a better name."

"_Don't forget what I told ya about that suit's operatin' system,_" Duo instructed before his eyes were drawn to Harry's two conscious passengers. "_Hilde? Is that you? What are ya doin' in my little brother's suit? And who is that sittin' beside ya?_"

"Duo…? This is your little brother!?"

"_Taliesin, how did ya find Hilde? Where's Zechs?_"

"Zechs is snoozing off a stunner on my bunk bed; he was annoying me. And I didn't find her… she sorta fell into our laps along with a couple of other wounded soldiers when we went to collect Zayeed. Didn't even know her name until you said it just now. Not that it matters anyway; she hates my guts and she's as pleasant as a mosquito looking for lunch on a bicorn's ass."

"_Just be careful will ya, Taliesin?_" Duo admonished with a laugh as the long haired pilot caught sight of Hilde's indignant expression over Harry's shoulder. "_And Hilde, I've got two bits of advice for ya; hold on tight and try not ta scream too loud. It will only encourage him._"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hilde asked in a bewildered voice.

"I will, Duo; now shoo… I need to turn these dolls into proper chew toys. Hope the two of you are buckled in back there because I'm about to take Wolfstar out for a bit of a test run."

The next one hundred and fifteen minutes were a blur in Harry's mind as he unleashed the full fury of Wolfstar on the mobile dolls and the Lunar Base. Every indignity he'd suffered inside of that base, every single threat he'd heard leveled at himself and at his brothers, and the constant stress of never knowing what was going to happen to him or his family fueling that fury. The Zero System, working side by side with his inner conscience and drawing on his magic through that mental connection that had been forged the moment the system invaded his mind, only enhanced his already considerable piloting skills as it reduced his reaction times to a mere fraction of what they had been. And Harry had been considered a prodigy in Dogstar.

Having seized control of the Zero system (instead of allowing it to control him), Harry was able to push the newly named Wolfstar to its limits and draw the performance of a lifetime from the suit. Hilde ended up screaming for nearly eight minutes straight before her voice gave out and then she took to praying silently as she clung to her seat with a white knuckled grip. The unnamed soldier wasn't unaffected but he ended up passing out before Hilde stopped screaming due to his wounds.

When the battle was over there was a new crater on the face of the moon and not a single room of the entire base remained intact; not even Zechs' hidden bunker. Those who had witnessed Harry's brutal and efficient systematic destruction of the Lunar Base and its entire fleet of over seven hundred mobile dolls (excluding his brothers and those that considered him a friend) would name Harry, and his stolen Gundam, the Demon of the Stars.

Harry did not escape from the battle unscathed; the Zero System had drained his magical core completely over the course of the battle and within seconds of striking down the last mobile doll that had escaped the destruction of the base, Harry slipped into unconsciousness. His mismatched eyes still glowing red and gold as he was pulled into his mindscape where he found the semi-sentient wolf that represented the Zero Interface waiting for him.

* * *

**AN:** _Lots of action… lots of explosions too… even if they mostly occurred off the page. I'd have written out more of the battle scene there at the end but I figured the chapter was long enough as it is and that was before I added in an extra thousand or so words to account for the two covert Gundams that the scientists had made. I'd originally forgotten all about them having recreated two suits during the whole Lunar Base Arc until after I rewatched those episodes last week. _

_I could have left them out but that would have marginalized the scientists' roles far more than I already have. I did, however, change which two Gundams they recreated and they built them from scratch instead of using pieces of the original suits. For those who might have forgotten, it was Deathscythe and Shenlong that were originally recreated/rebuilt during that part of the series. And we can see that Harry is still nursing a grudge against Dr. J for what he'd ordered Heero to do during the ambush.  
_

_We also saw that the way Harry sees Zechs and Une isn't all there is to either individual with Zechs displaying the honor that seemed to have been missing from earlier chapters (though in his defense, Harry always thought the worst of him and Harry did try the man's patience). We also see that, yes, Une's mind had been fractured; I imagine the first cracks appeared at sometime around the failed assassinations at the New Edwards Base mission and during the failed take over of the Earth and completely broke the night Harry escaped from Luxembourg Castle. Treize sending her out into space probably affected her much as it did in canon; I just didn't show that part. _

_Harry finally got to let off a little steam there at the end of the chapter and got a bit of revenge at the same time. I do hope that I managed to surprise most of you with how I handled the way the Zero Interface interacted with Harry; the whole reason I needed Harry to learn Occlumency once he'd made it into space was because I was building up to this chapter. He needed to know just enough to have some skill but not be so skilled that he could handle the intrusion with a snap of his fingers or a mere thought. _

_Anyway, I've said enough for now and this chapter is more than long enough as it is. The next chapter will deal with the fallout from the destruction of the Lunar Base. ~ Jenn_


	30. Some Things Never Change

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _Overindulgence of alcohol._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 29: Some Things Never Change

It would be two weeks before Harry woke up; the first week spent in a magically induced coma due to his severely drained (and stressed) magical core and the physical stress of channeling a flood of magic through his body for nearly two hours straight thanks to the connection he'd formed with the Zero Interface. The second week was spent merely sleeping off his exhaustion while his core recovered and recharged. Once he did wake up he felt kind of listless and emotionally detached for a couple of days and didn't really put much effort into responding to his numerous visitors; some of which he intentionally ignored.

When he finally felt normal enough that he was released from the Infirmary, Harry wandered through the Resistance's satellite base numbly as he took in the half fearful stares, heated glares, and low mutters that seemed to follow him every where he went. The animosity sharply reminded Harry of both his second and fourth year at Hogwarts when the entire school population had hated or shunned him for something he had no control over.

After a couple of hours, when he couldn't take the stares any longer and hadn't been able to find a single friendly face, he retreated to his assigned room and he slipped down into his food trunk to gather up a case of butterbeer, several bottles of Rosmerta's mulled mead (Sirius had often sworn by it in the memories he'd left Harry), a bottle of water, several dozen pounds of individually wrapped servings of almond fudge (in white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate flavors), a large bag of pretzels, and a couple of shot glasses. He next entered his supply trunk to fetch Seth (the cobra having been locked in the trunk since Harry finished drawing the blood to ward Wing Zero), a couple decks of normal cards, and the poker chips.

Harry then set up everything on the table, pouring out two shots of mead for himself and Seth before cracking open both decks of cards and shuffling them while Seth used his tail to divvy up the poker chips (the cobra had begun developing un-snake-like habits and attitudes the longer he stayed with Harry; this was especially true after venturing out into space with the wizard). His brothers and a few tag-a-longs invaded his room two hours later to find both Harry and Seth piss drunk arguing in parseltongue over who was cheating who at blackjack.

It was a sight none of Harry's brothers had ever seen before (since Harry had never before drank anything stronger than butterbeer which was more along the lines of soda pop than an alcoholic beverage and no one knew the snake could drink alcohol) and one that alarmed Zayeed, Hilde, and Zechs (the tag-a-longs). Zechs attempted to confiscate a half-full bottle of mead (the fourth or fifth one that Harry had opened) only to quickly dance back when both Harry and Seth were quick to defend said bottle. Harry glared at the man but ignored him after a moment as he and the snake went back to their argument.

"Those aren't the same cards he used to kill those soldiers are they?" Hilde asked in a quavering tone as she stared at the cards in Harry's hands as if mesmerized.

"Nah… Sefth's not un fur cuffroat card games," Harry slurred as he squinted at the teen.

"That was a horrible pun, Taliesin. What are you doing anyway?"

"Tryin' ta get Sefth ta admit he'sh been cheatin' again, Hero… Hiiro… Heero."

"Why are you drunk? And is the snake drunk!?" Trowa demanded with more than a little concern as Seth swayed dangerously from side to side as he hissed angrily at Harry while jabbing his tail at the cards held up in his coils.

"Why da hell shouldna be shmashded? Shure da hell beatsh lettin' da lot of dem glare holesh in da back a mah head! Buncha unigrat… ungratified... ungrateful bashtards. Hadda nuff dat dam shnit in mah time at Hogwash's schuel of inbred whiztards."

"Where did he get the alcohol from?" Zayeed asked in confusion as he took in all of the empty butterbeer bottles with the four empty mead bottles mixed in alongside the sticky fudge wrappers. "I didn't think there was any alcohol on the satellite and I know I didn't purchase any."

"Itsh all mine too… ain't sharin' wif no un 'cept maybee Sefth, ifsh he shtopsh cheatin'. Shared mah dam shockolot and watd dat get mah? Nuffin' but dirty looksh; fuk dat shnit."

"I don't think we're going to get any sense out of him until he sobers up," Zayeed observed.

"Not gonna. Can't make mah."

"He's hurting," Quatre quietly stated from where he stood towards the back of the group with one hand pressed against his heart. "Something happened after he left the infirmary several hours ago and he's trying to drown out the pain."

"Can't drown 'em out… dam bashtards keep shtaring. Tirdt of dem all shtaring wif dem dam cold eyesh."

"So do we sober him up or let him come out of it on his own?" Duo asked as he nudged an empty bottle with his toe.

"As much as I'd love to leave him to suffer the joys of having a hangover," Heero drawled with half hearted amusement. "We're supposed to be attending a meeting right now and his presence was requested now that he's finally been released from the Infirmary. Taliesin, do you have anything in that trunk of yours that will clear the alcohol from your system and clear your head?"

"Yesh… but ah don wan it."

"Go get it and bring it up here where I can watch you drink it."

"Jerk… ah don wanna be shober."

"Now, please."

"Fine."

The group watched Harry stagger to one of the two trunks pushed up against his wall and then trip over the lip of the trunk when he tried to step in. The yelps that echoed out of the trunk before the lid swung shut indicated that he'd tumbled down the stairs as well. He tumbled back out of the trunk sporting more than a few bumps and bruises holding three bottles of potion some fifteen minutes later. When he couldn't seem to get back up on his feet, he crawled over to the table and pulled himself up so he could set two of the bottles on the table while he downed the third.

"Happy?" Harry petulantly demanded of Heero half a minute later before his eyes bugged out and he slapped a hand over his mouth as he dashed to the bathroom with far more grace than he'd exhibited in retrieving the potions.

A minute later, the sound of Harry puking his guts out echoed from the bathroom. Sirius never warned him exactly how the sobering potion worked (intentionally as Padfoot would have enjoyed watching his reaction the first time he used it and would have seen it as a joke). The potion didn't just neutralize or vanish the alcohol, it pulled it back out of the blood stream, drew it back to the stomach, and expelled it the fastest way possible; meaning it came out the same way it went in. When Harry walked back out, his was pale and shaking like a leaf but unquestionably sober.

"I'm gonna fucking kill Padfoot for that if I ever see him again. He purposefully left out a few damn details on how that damned potion works."

"That should have taught you something," Heero stated pointedly.

"Yeah… next time I feel the need to get drunk I do it where you can't order me to sober myself up before nature fully runs its damn course," Harry barked back as he stalked up to the table and downed the two remaining potions without even making a face at their bitter and rotten tastes. "Why the fuck couldn't you just leave to my misery?"

"Why were you drinking yourself stupid, Taliesin?" Trowa asked as he picked up one of the empty mead bottles and set it down on the table.

"Ask the fucking mindless muggles swarming the Merlin cursed hallways of this fucking floating factory. And why the hell are you two in my room?"

Heero walked up and slapped Harry in the back of the head, making Harry yelp in indignation. Heero then grabbed Harry by the back of the head and turned him so he could see the pained expression on Quatre's face and the fact that the empath was clutching his heart in pain. Harry sighed and sagged in place over the abrupt reminder that the blonde pilot suffered each time Harry began radiating negativity.

"Sorry, Quatre… they just blindsided me and it pissed me off because being treated as a pariah gets old after the first two or three times. I could have done without the reminder that people will be people no matter what world they live in. Why do they hate me?"

"They don't hate ya…" Duo attempted to refute, only for Harry to cut him off.

"They do damn it! I saw them! I could see it in their eyes! I could practically feel the hate rolling off of them as I walked through the hallways! People I laughed and played cards with wouldn't even meet my eyes as they gave me a wide berth; as if I was carrying some deadly and contagious disease."

"They don't hate you; they are afraid of what you can do," Wufei corrected as he walked up and placed his hand on Harry's head. "They saw you singlehandedly destroy close to four hundred mobile dolls and then casually wipe a military base off the face of the moon (a base that had been built over three hundred years ago) so thoroughly that it was as if it never existed in the first place."

"That doesn't make their cold glares and fearful stares any easier to take," Harry murmured in a pained whisper.

"We will continue this conversation later," Heero declared after a few minutes of silence. "We have a meeting we're supposed to be attending right now."

Harry didn't say anything as he gathered the wildly swaying (and still drunk – which was so not fair) Seth up from the table and draped the snake around his neck before he slunk out of the room with his hands in his pockets and his eyes glued to the floor. The others fell into step beside and behind him and each time they passed a group of people whispering about the things that Harry had done, Harry would flinch as if physically struck.

After about ten minutes, Harry began growing angry again and he snapped his eyes up and began glaring at those who whispered about him, went out of their way to avoid walking anywhere near him, or glared at him with distrust. By the time they reached the conference room, Harry was wearing a cold, stony mask over his face and his eyes were glowing softly as he unconsciously tapped into the connection he'd formed with the Zero System when it invaded his mind.

Over the first half of the meeting, the familiar monotony of listening to various updates and reports allowed Harry to relax and his eyes returned to their natural mismatched blue and green. The normalness of the meeting's agenda soothed Harry and he could almost pretend that the rest of the population living on the satellite wasn't acting as if he had the plague. He was therefore caught completely off guard during the second half of the meeting when things turned unpleasant in the blink of an eye.

"And that brings us to the real reason for this meeting," Field Marshal Noventa announced as he shuffled his notes and sat up straighter in his chair. "While we are exceedingly glad to see that our Star Pilots have returned, we are greatly concerned about what happened on the day the five of you escaped from the moon's Lunar Base; specifically the events leading up to the unleashing of the Demon of the Stars."

"There are six Star Pilots," Heero calmly corrected.

"There were six… now there are five and a demon," one of the other generals muttered and Harry glanced over at the man to find him glaring his way with undisguised loathing.

"There _are_ six," Heero asserted as he glared sharply at the man before returning his eyes to Noventa. "Don't forget that the resistance formed around all _six_ Star Pilots and that we have sacrificed _almost everything_ in an effort to stand against tyranny and OZ."

"That was the past… we had our doubts about following a mere child but we allowed you to sway us and his skills blinded us to the monster inside. He callously destroyed an entire base and all of the men and women that lived and worked there. We do not need or want a demon leading us."

Harry laughed softly; his voice low and filled with bitterness and the adults in the room shifted nervously. After a moment he drifted off as he stared down at the palms of his hand and when he spoke his voice carried through the entire room even though he barely spoke above a whisper, "Freak, monster, demon… it's ironic that those who label me as such are always adults that have no understanding of who I am; adults that preach tolerance out of one side of their mouth while out of the other they urge the masses to shun what they can't or won't understand and beat down, suppress, or kill what they fear."

"Amazing how when my brothers and I were saving your pathetic asses (twice, I might add) we were saviors and champions. And yet… because I destroyed a few empty suits (suits that were being deployed to destroy you) and permanently ended a threat I am suddenly a dangerous beast that must be shackled or cast away. Did you know that I drew my battle against the mobile dolls out for an extra forty minutes just to give those who wanted no part of that battle time to escape?"

"No… of course not… or if you did, you choose to ignore that bit because it would cast doubts upon the image of the demon you wished to promote. My brothers and I were held captive for over four months… and in all that time the only one who sought to do something about that was Zayeed and it nearly killed him and would have killed him if I had not begged for the chance to intervene so that his life could be saved; risking my life and the lives of my brothers in the process."

Harry paused as his eyes hardened and began glowing softly once more as he dared each man sitting around the table to look him in the eyes. Most of them averted their eyes after a few seconds and when even Noventa looked away, Harry continued on in a tone that could have cut diamonds, "What fucking right do you have to judge me when the lot of you were sitting here safe and sound as pretty as you please while my brothers and I were out there bleeding for your fucking cause?"

"We never asked you to fight for us or kill in our name," another man growled.

"You know what, you're absolutely right," Harry drawled as he rose to his feet. "Tell you what… I'll go. I don't need this shit; I have enough fucking issues without dealing with backstabbing cowards like you." Harry placed his hands on the table and leaned forward as he pinned the highest ranking men and women in the room with a raptor's gaze as his irises turned gold and red as the connection between Harry and Zero opened fully. "I helped saved your ungrateful asses twice; don't expect me to do so again because it will be a cold day in hell before I give a shit about what happens to waste encrusted canker sores like you."

Harry then straightened up and stormed out of the room without a backwards glance and you could have heard a pin drop in the tense silence that he left behind. The five Gundam pilots glanced at each other, holding a conversation with their eyes before they swung around to look at Zechs who'd just risen to his feet.

"You know," Zechs began slowly, weighing his words carefully. "That child showed more compassion over the course of the four hours it took for him to evacuate the base and rescue key individuals than any ten persons in this room showed over the course of their lifetimes (not counting the Star Pilots). I imprisoned him, beat him down, and tried to force him to bend to my will and yet when OZ turned on me because I refused to ship all seven of the Resistance pilots I had in my custody to Earth where they were to be executed; he not only looked passed what I did to him, he saved my life."

"He did the same for Colonel Une, however reluctantly, when she tried to help those he was trying to save and she had treated him ten times worse in the past. That child has sacrificed himself for you unselfishly and you just stabbed him in the back, spat on his sacrifices, and shunned him for doing what you were too cowardly to do yourselves. Your vaunted Alliance murdered millions upon millions of innocents in your quest to subjugate an entire world and all of the colonies; Taliesin kills only those that seek to harm him, his family, or the innocents."

"I am ashamed of certain actions I have taken in the past but even I never stooped as low as you have here today. You better pray that you never end up on the wrong side of his blade because he will show you the same amount of compassion and understanding you showed him here today; absolutely none. May god have mercy on your souls, gentlemen; because Taliesin Bard will not."

Zechs strode from the room next and this time there was restless shifting as the adults present glanced at one another in uncertainty over the way things were turning out. After a few minutes, the five Gundam pilots stood as one to face the advisory council. Heero stepped forward after sharing another glance with his fellow pilots to confirm that they were all in agreement before he addressed the room.

"If I had known what you wanted my little brother here for today I would have left him to his drunken stupor so he wouldn't have to know that the men he'd admired and risked his life for thought so little of him. You've turned almost everyone on this godforsaken rock against him without even thinking of what it might drive him to do after spending four months as a prisoner. Four months, where for all you knew, he was being tortured on a daily basis. You didn't even have the courtesy to ask him what he suffered through during that time before you labeled him as a monster and a demon. You didn't even pretend to care. I pity you because you just pissed all over the best thing that ever happened to this world and you don't even realize what you just lost."

"What Heero is tryin' ta say," Duo interjected when Heero paused to take a breath. "Is that we go where our little brother goes and when ya turn your back on him you're turnin' your back on us."

"Even a rabbit or a mouse will attack when it is cornered and fears for its life," Wufei stated solemnly.

"They say that the show must go on but when you chase away all of your performers you are left with nothing but an empty stage and an angry audience," Trowa added sagely.

"The pain you have inflicted today will haunt your lives for years to come and when you finally realize just how big of a mistake you have made it will be too late to make amends. It is already too late to atone for your cruelty," Quatre finished before all five of them turned and filed out of the room without saying another word.

"I was prepared to hate Taliesin Bard before I even met him face to face," Hilde softly admitted; her voice cutting through the soft muttering that had started the moment the last pilot left the room. "I saw him at his worst and even then he never lashed out at those who did not threaten him or his family. He could have left me behind or simply killed me when I accused him of being heartless and he didn't."

"I was in that suit with him as he destroyed those mobile dolls and the base; did you know he vomited up blood and cried in shame and regret when the base exploded? He spent over two weeks unconscious in a hospital bed while you turned the people of this station against him because he damn near killed himself using that damnable Zero system and yet he did not turn into a mindless killing machine like any other pilot would have in the same situation. I wish I could be half the pilot that boy is and I'm talking about his flying skills."

When Hilde left the room, she found Duo waiting for her just outside and she blushed prettily when he thanked her for standing up for Taliesin when she didn't have to. The two of them then followed in the wake of the others as they made their way back to Harry's room where the angry and hurting wizard was currently packing up his things as he prepared for his rather sudden departure. By the time Duo and Hilde reached the room, Wufei and Harry were sparring with his practice swords in order to bleed off some of Harry's frustration. When Zechs traded places with a slightly winded Wufei, the fight turned slightly brutal as the older man stirred up much frustration and anger in Harry.

By the time Heero stepped in to give Zechs a reprieve, Harry was sweating and panting and in far more control of his emotions. When he could no longer hold his sword steady, Harry collapsed into a chair and dropped his head on the table with a groan. The sound of glass clinking against glass had him turning his head to half glare at Zechs who was in the process of pouring out a shot of mead for everyone present, the man having picked up extra glasses from somewhere. He even placed a shot in front of Harry despite the fact that he believed Harry to be no more than twelve or thirteen years old.

"Alcohol should be consumed in moderation if you are to truly appreciate it," Zechs declared as he sipped at his glass before glancing at the shot glass in shock. "That is quite good. Where'd a wet behind the ears kid like you get a hold of something like this?"

"I'm not much younger than you, ya know," Harry groused which earned him a puzzled look from both Zechs and Hilde. "And my godfather is the one who stocked my larder. I've got a bunch of stronger stuff but I'd never drunk anything other than butterbeer before so I thought I'd try the mead; Sirius had claimed it was the best in all of Scotland. Of course, I think that's just because it was made and served by a woman who was… um… quite well endowed."

Heero and Duo snorted over that revelation as they stepped forward along with Wufei to snag a glass each to try. Hilde hesitantly joined them while Trowa and Quatre had to be talked into just trying a small bit. After a while, Zechs sat down across from Harry, gathered up both the cards and the poker chips on the table and after splitting the chips into four even stacks, he shuffled the deck (which was actually two decks) as he gave a pointed look to both Trowa and Heero before he began dealing. He then gave another pointed look to the other three pilots before glancing sideways at Hilde, which saw Wufei, Quatre, and Duo escorting the young teen out of the room after mumbling something about packing which drew Harry's attention from the shot of mead he was slowly sipping and savoring.

"What'd Duo mean about packing?" Harry inquired as he furrowed his brow and stared at his closed door as if it would hold the answers even as he picked up the cards that had been dealt to him.

"You didn't think we'd let you take off on your own did you?" Heero shot back as he placed his opening bid and dropped three of his seven cards into the discard pile before plucking three more from the stock pile.

"I don't know what to think right now," Harry sighed as he scowled at his cards and fiddled with them for several minutes before discarding four and taking four more after adding his opening bet. He then frowned up at Zechs before asking, "Why are you here?"

"How should I know? You're the one who knocked me out and hauled me out of the base."

"Let me rephrase, why are you in my room playing… what game are we playing anyway?"

"You bet and discarded without even knowing what we're playing?" Trowa asked with a snort. "And I'll raise you twenty."

"My mind was elsewhere. I'll match your twenty."

"Don't worry about your mind… it's probably safer wherever it is; I'll match and raise another forty," Heero quipped with a grin.

"Ha, ha very funny, Hee-man; hope you didn't hurt yourself coming up with that one. I'll match you again and raise another fifteen."

"If he keeps cracking jokes like that I may have to give him my clown costume, I'll see both of your raises and raise another fifty," Trowa interjected.

"Nah… pink would suit Heero better. Are you ever going to answer the question?"

"I'll raise you another twenty five," Zechs murmured as he shuffled his cards and tossed in his chips. "And my answer hasn't changed since the first time you asked me what I wanted with you and why I wouldn't leave you alone. I could ask you the same question you know. Why did you save me and my men from the base? Why did you knock me out and drag me away when you could have allowed me to take my suit out? If I had died then you'd never have to worry about me 'stalking' you again."

"Merlin's pimply ass cheek; I told you I don't need a damned guardian. I've been taking care of myself for years just fine," Harry growled as he slammed the proper number of poker chips into the center before tossing in several more. "I'll match and raise you another two hundred. Heero, could you answer him… you can probably explain it better since he tends to ignore me."

"I'll fold," Heero sighed as he dropped his cards and leaned back in his chair. "And to answer your questions Zechs; Taliesin doesn't believe anyone has earned the right to protect him. You were attempting to do so without his express permission and that makes him right cranky."

"Raise you another hundred; and Taliesin also has an aversion to allowing people to die what he sees as senseless and stupid deaths," Trowa added as he discarded and drew another two cards.

"I'll see your hundred and raise you another fifty and it's not my fault I have an aversion to stupidity in all of its many forms."

"I'll see both of your raises and call with two pair," Zechs stated as he set his cards face up to show a pair of kings, a pair of aces, an eight, a seven, and a three.

"I've got a trio of ladies and a partial straight," Trowa revealed as he laid down three queens plus a seven, an eight, a nine, and a ten.

"I've got nothing but my family and a pair of fools," Harry quietly replied as he dropped down a straight flush of hearts from ace to five and a pair of jokers.

Heero and Trowa exchanged a look of concern over Harry's head while Zechs just frowned down at the cards Harry had placed on the table. Harry ignored all three of them as he continuously flipped the seven cards forwards and backwards so it showed the faces and hid them in turns as he stared off at nothing. After a moment he stopped and ended up with the five hearts face up and the two jokers face down.

"Can we go home, Heero? I miss Cathy and the Maganacs. I miss Beauty and the others too. And I want to taste the rain as it falls, feel the wind on my face, and bask in the warmth of the sun. We've been out here for what; five or six months now? Or is it eight? What day is it anyway?"

"It's April twenty-seventh, one hundred ninety-six years After Colony," Zechs answered softly.

"April…?" Harry repeated with a gob smacked expression that was half pained. "Huh… hard to believe it's been a full year since you washed up on my beach, Heero. Hard to believe it's almost been three years since I last saw my godfather or my friends. Merlin… at times it seems like it's been even longer."

"Any regrets?" Trowa asked casually.

"Hundreds but I don't think I'd change anything even if I had a time turner and could go back. I'd be too afraid of losing my family; mismatched and messed up as it is. The only thing I really wish I could do was see Sirius, Remus, and Hermione one last time and let them know I never forgot them and still miss them all the time. I'd even be willing to set foot in Hogwarts one last time if it gave me the chance to spend just five minutes with them."

"Why did you leave them if you did not want to?" Zechs inquired as he gathered up all of the cards but those in front of Harry and began shuffling the deck again.

"I didn't leave; my godfather sent me away to save me from being unknowingly sacrificed in a war. How ironic is it that I ended up fighting in a war anyway? At least here I've got a fighting chance of living through the war instead of ending up as a martyr for a backwards society that hated or ignored me in turns. Then again, it's not much different here; now is it?"

"As you said earlier; people will be people no matter where you go," Heero agreed as he snuck a piece of the leftover fudge that was still on the table. "Regardless of what others think of you; we'll never abandon you and we'll never judge you for doing what you have to do to survive. You are our little brother after all."

"Wish you'd quit picking on my lack of height… I am still two years older than you," Harry groused as he pouted at Heero.

Zechs choked on the piece of fudge he'd just sampled before he rasped out, "How is that possible… you can't be more than twelve or thirteen and he's almost sixteen."

"Ah shit," Harry cursed as he finally registered exactly who was still in the room. "Well I suppose it's no use crying over a cracked caldron now. And no… I'll be eighteen in three and a half months; another one of the reasons I have resented you trying to insert yourself into my life as a father-figure."

"Eighteen…? But you don't… how can you possibly be just two years younger than I am?"

"Quite frankly it's none of your business," Harry bluntly replied as he gathered up the hand of cards sitting in front of him and stuffed them into his pocket. "I'm going to go check on the suits and make sure those old dried up grindylow droppings aren't trying to sabotage Wolfstar."

Without waiting for a reply, Harry disillusioned himself and slipped away to the docking bay where all of the mobile suits were kept. He kept to the side passages so there would be fewer people to dodge and tried not to think about the looks that would be sent his way if he wasn't invisible. When he finally reached the bay, he stopped just inside as he noted that the four Star Suits that were sitting in their customary parking places and Wolfstar (which was sitting a short ways away) were being guarded by several squads of pilots and Harry frowned as he studied the scene.

After a few minutes, he felt a thread of warmth worm its way through his heart when he realized that they weren't there to stop him or his brothers from getting to their suits; they were there to keep anyone from messing with the suits. It let him know that there were those who did not hate him aside from his brothers. Threading his way through the crowds of irate mechanics, pilots, and other military personnel that were being kept away from the suits, Harry allowed his disillusionment spell to fade when he'd crossed nearly half the distance to the suits.

A rather feral smirk crossed his face as people suddenly yelped and scrambled back out of his way the moment they caught sight of Harry suddenly appearing right in the middle of the crowd. Those protecting the suits laughed and jeered at the panicking crowd and Harry allowed all of his earlier bitterness to fade as he stepped up beside the trio of pilots guarding his suit. He easily recognized them as the first three pilots he'd ever been teamed up with during the earliest missions before his failed mission to free his brothers.

"Haddock, Brian, and Takoda," Harry greeted with a genuine smile. "The three of you are a welcome sight after walking through all the rubble rabble and sheep."

"Glad to see you up and about again, boss," Haddock declared with a welcoming grin as he gave Harry a cursory inspection to make certain he was fine.

"We tried to come get you after we'd heard what happened," Takoda added with a slightly pained look. "Things were pretty bad around here without you and your brothers running the show and nothing's been done."

"The old buzzards kept muttering about the six of you being compromised because you were in enemy hands and started spouting crap about you being too weak to withstand true torture. A few of them even dared suggest that you'd turned traitor," Brian practically growled. "They obviously don't know you or the other Star Pilots that well because we know you're made of sterner stuff than that and there was never any doubt in our mind that you, of all people, would remain true."

"Yeah, and we don't buy that whole demon crap," Haddock stated firmly as he glared over Harry's shoulder at those that were still brave enough to mill around. "You've saved far too many of our lives and we know who it is that fights for us both out there on a mission and in the council. Personally, I thought you'd never flown better than when we watched the vid-feed of your Battle for the Moon."

"Thank you," Harry replied as he swallowed around the lump in his throat. "You guys have no idea just how much that means to me. I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you guys though."

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Takoda surmised as he deflated a bit.

"I… yeah, I'm leaving. I didn't want to go but I can't stay because the fear and hate will only get worse as the old fossils stir up more and more trouble. I spent more than enough time as a hated prisoner in enemy hands; I don't need a repeat at the hands of those who were once my allies. My brothers have already declared their intention to follow me."

"You got room for a few more pilots to tag along?" Brian asked softly. "There's no point staying if you aren't here because they'll just get us killed on some stupid suicide mission without you here to argue against those kinds of missions."

"I'm not staying in space to fight, guys; I'm going home to Earth."

"We don't care if you're planning on colonizing the sun," Haddock quipped as he crossed his arms and flashed Harry another grin. "We'd follow you anywhere, boss."

"I've always wanted to visit Earth," Takoda stated simply as he gave a small grin.

"I don't know what to say guys."

"How about just acceptin' them and tellin' them they're welcome ta come with?" Duo asked as he walked up behind the group and draped an arm over both Harry and Haddock. "They seem like a trustworthy lot and there's bound ta be trouble enough brewin' on Earth for us ta need a few good friends watchin' our back."

"Who am I to argue with that ringing endorsement?" Harry snorted as he elbowed his brother in the side and allowed a small lopsided grin to form.

The five of them shared a bit of a laugh before Harry walked up to Wolfstar and placed his hand on the suit's foot as he stared up at the Gundam. Like the other Gundams back on Earth, Wolfstar now radiated warmth but unlike the other five suits, Wolfstar felt alive beneath Harry's hand. He could almost feel a heartbeat as he stood with one hand on the suit and stared up at the cockpit while at the same time, the Zero System stirred within his consciousness. Harry gasped softly in shock a few seconds later and paled slightly when he realized that his magic had done to Wolfstar what the wards of Hogwarts had once done for an enchanted Ford Anglia; he'd given the suit a semblance of life helped in no small part by the Zero System.

"Something wrong, Taliesin?"

"Huh? No, not exactly. Just a little caught off guard by something I'd not expected to happen."

"Oh, and what was it that caught ya off guard, kiddo?"

"The Law of Unintended Consequences," Harry absently replied as he climbed up onto the foot and patted the suit on the leg much like one would pat a dog.

"Can ya explain that a little better?

"I will… after we leave. There's too many unwanted ears and wagging tongues present."

Harry ignored his now scowling brother and scrambled the rest of the way up to the cockpit using the invisible footholds he'd placed on the suit to make getting in and out of the suit easier. The door to the cockpit opened the instant Harry reached the torso, confirming his suspicions that the suit had gained a form of sentience. He briefly wondered what kind of repercussions would come of this unexpected turn of events but he shoved the concern to the back of his mind as he crawled into the heart of the suit as the monitors inside of the cockpit lit up and welcomed him with an almost overwhelming wave of images.

"Hey, Wolfstar, I missed you too, boy," Harry murmured as he patted the pilot's chair and tried to ignore the uneasiness he felt over his magic having brought the suit to life. "We'll need to be a bit more careful the next time we fight together so I don't end up quite so exhausted. What about you, boy? Did you come out of that alright?"

The moment Harry had asked his questions, a complete diagnostic scan report appeared on the monitors covering four of the six walls in the hexagonal cockpit. Harry gave a murmur of thanks as he noted that any systems that needed to be checked were highlighted with yellow, low ammunition stores were highlighted in orange, and any damage was marked in red. There was currently only one red highlighted line; one of the exterior optic lenses had been damaged by flying debris during the battle. Most of the weapons needed more ammunition and in the case of the custom buster rifles, they needed replacement E-pacs (the power behind the blasts the twin guns fired). Overall, the suit was in excellent condition despite the rather heated battle it had been involved in. The report printed itself out once Harry had finished reading through it.

"Glad to see you only took a bit of minor damage, I'll see if Duo can't help me get that optic sensor repaired or replaced before we go and the rest should be fairly easy to take care of. And while that is being done, I can finish adding some of the magical upgrades that I didn't have time to get done before we escaped," Harry stated as he glanced around the cockpit and mentally ticked off the list of things he hadn't done.

Wolfstar's screens went blank in response to Harry's statements and Harry got the impression that the suit was feeling uncertain about having changes made to it. He could even feel 'Zero' shifting uncomfortably in the back of his mind and that made him wonder just how much self-awareness the suit had gained when compared to the Ford Anglia. That the two of them still shared a connection (even when he was not piloting the suit) was also more than a little troubling; as was the fact that he'd not even realized that the connection was still there until he'd touched the suit just a few minutes earlier. The idea that he'd unintentionally given a semblance of life to what amounted to a war machine also disturbed him because of how much damage the suit could do if it went wild like the car had in the Forbidden Forest.

He supposed he could try draining the magic from the suit so that it could be destroyed, if only to prevent it from going on the rampage any but just thinking about doing such a thing made him feel dirty. It was his magic that brought the suit to life and in a way that made the suit part of himself and contemplating killing off a part of himself (even one as obscure as the now sentient Wolfstar) brought to mind the day that Heero had accused him of spitting on his godfather's sacrifices. The fact that he could sense what the suit thought and felt through the strange connection that had bee forged between them only reinforced the idea that the suit was more than just an animated piece of machinery.

In that moment, all thoughts of destroying the suit were discarded; the wizard unable to continue contemplating 'killing' something he'd brought to life without growing ill over the mere idea, even though the suit wasn't truly alive. On the heels of the decision, Harry realized that he was going to have to install a few fail-safes in order to keep the suit from going on the warpath against his wishes at some point down the line. Harry let out a soft groan at that point as he realized his brothers were going to yell at him or worse, ground him (as in take away his flight privileges), because of what he'd done to the suit.

Feeling a headache coming on, Harry ran his hand over the back of his head as he stared at the still blank screens and felt Zero stirring in his mind once more. Realizing that the suit could feel his emotions as easily as he could feel the suit's emotions, Harry stomped down on his discomfort before he addressed the sentient suit once more.

"I won't do anything drastic; I need to apply the spells to allow you to enter stealth mode, cast a defensive ward to protect you from vandals and thieves (and key my brothers into the wards), reinforce all of your optic sensors so there is less of a chance of another one being damaged the next time we have to fight, and make a few minor adjustments to the shield so it is a little easier to wield. We'll worry about adding new weapons, installing the bathroom, creating additional storage compartments, installing a magical amplifier so I can use magic while flying with you, and giving you a more appropriate paint job once we get home."

Consent was tentatively given and Harry promised to be careful as he moved to extract the shrunken suits that were still sitting up in the rack he'd created to hold them. The door to the storage cupboard where he'd stored the rucksack opened by itself as Harry reached for it and he thanked Wolfstar as he pulled the pack out and tucked the suits into it for easy transport. Harry then spent a moment preparing a place on the interface for the stealth mode and fail-safe controls to be installed once he'd finished applying the spells and created the rune activation switches for them.

He then made to leave and got the impression that the suit was pouting as the door reluctantly opened to allow him to leave. Harry gave the side of the interface a few consoling pats and promised he wasn't going far before he stepped outside and dropped down out of the suit to find his brother still hanging around.

"Good, you did stick around," Harry stated passed Duo the bag containing the five additional suits he'd taken from the Lunar Base (including Zechs' Tallgeese) and the two damaged Star Suits. He waited as Duo took a quick glance into the rucksack and slung it over his shoulder before he passed the long haired teen the printed copy of the diagnostic report Wolfstar had printed for him next. "I need to restock Wolfstar's ammunition stores, the life support system could use a little tweaking, and I'm going to need help replacing or repairing one of the optic sensors. If you can get me the stuff on that list I can start working on getting the stealth mode installed since I didn't have time to take care of that before we left. I also have to add some defensive wards for protection; which means that I will need to key the five of you into the wards once I get them up and running so that you don't get zapped accidentally."

"Will do… but ya know them old guys aren't gonna want ta let ya resupply," Duo replied as he skimmed through the list of munitions needed.

"They have no say in the matter," Zayeed declared as he joined them. "The resources of this satellite belong to the Winner Corporation and I will see to it you have anything and everything you need." The man then turned to Harry, looking a little nervous. "I owe you both an apology and my gratitude for saving me yet again."

"You don't owe me anything," Harry countered firmly as he studied the older man to ascertain his current health. "I'm just glad you're alright; I had feared I might have killed you when I shut the suit down and Zechs would not allow me to check on you."

"The Zero system was driving me mad, Taliesin; you saved me from myself."

"As I said, I'm just glad that you're okay and I appreciate you allowing me to resupply Wolfstar."

"Truthfully, I'd prefer to see Wing Zero destroyed. I never should have built that suit but I was desperate to save my son and the rest of you. I was angry when I learned that Quatre and the others were allowing you to pilot that suit. Not because I didn't think you couldn't fly it but because the Zero System is dangerous."

"So is a puppy," Harry pointed out softly. "Wolfstar is… he is completely unlike any other suit in existence. I knew the risks going in and nearly lost myself to Zero at one point. Seven months ago, I doubt I would have been able to pilot Wolfstar without suffering a complete and total mental meltdown. I'd like to think I've grown since I first came into space though… mentally at least cause Merlin knows I'm still too damn short."

"Glad ya were da one ta say it, kiddo," Duo quipped with a laugh.

And just like that the serious moment passed as Harry set about adding the silencing spells, invisibility spells, additional temperature regulating and masking charms, a few other spells designed to hide Wolfstar from being seen or heard by any means, and the defensive wards that would prevent him from being stolen or dismantled. He also dug through a few books to find appropriate locking spells that would shut down all of the weapons on the suit so that they couldn't be fired unless he manually unlocked them with the 'safety' switch that he intended to install alongside of the stealth activation switch.

As he worked, Harry constantly murmured softly to the suit as he felt Zero shifting restlessly in his mind; keeping one hand on the suit at all times in order to keep the suit calm and still (it wouldn't do to have the suit suddenly start moving on its own in full view of those that considered Harry a demon now after all). When each of his brothers eventually gravitated to the docking bay, Harry paused in his work to key them into Wolfstar's newly raised defense wards so he wouldn't have to worry about doing it later.

It would take seventy-two hours to make all of the preparations for their return to Earth. Harry spent much of that time either working on Wolfstar or hanging out with Duo and Trowa in the docking bay as the two of them repaired the minor damage most of Star Suits received (barring Dogstar and Northstar as those two needed far more done than just a few minor repairs). During that time a total of thirty-one pilots (most of whom had flown with Harry, one of his brothers, or were friends with someone who had) decided to follow the six of them to Earth.

That wasn't counting Zechs, Hilde, or Une who would be going with them as well (Une being taken to Earth for medical treatment as she'd fallen into a coma due to her wounds, severe blood loss, and her fractured mind). Harry wasn't happy about Une being brought along but didn't offer a word of protest (much to the surprise of his brothers). Those men loyal to Zechs and Une (except for a small handful) would be remaining out in space, though they would not be joining the resistance. They would remain separate and look to Zechs to lead them from afar as they set up a base on Mars.

The rest of the Resistance began breaking apart the moment the word that all six Star Pilots were leaving spread through the base. One third of the people that had flocked to their cause would join what was now being called the Loyalist Faction (those soldiers that had followed Zechs and Une from the Lunar Base) under the leadership of Zechs. Another third would rally around Zayeed as the man had provided them with jobs and security for the past seven or eight months and they had no wish to follow Zechs or Field Marshal Noventa. The final third were the individuals that followed the former Alliance Officers and included the majority of the people that had had a problem with Harry after the Battle of the Moon.

Zayeed would promptly evict the last group due to the former Alliance Officers driving the Star Pilots out of the Resistance with the first two groups helping to enforce the eviction. The six of them probably could have stayed at that point but Harry truly missed Earth. He did promise to come back and visit someday as he'd come to love the freedom of flying through space. He'd also grown to consider Zayeed and Iria family (helped in no small part by the fact that they were part of Quatre's family) and he knew he'd miss them once he left. He missed those back on earth just as much though and no matter how much he enjoyed flying amongst the stars; Earth would always be home.

* * *

**Translations:** Drunken Ramblings

Nah… Sefth's not un fur cuffroat card games. ~ Nah, Seth's not one for cutthroat card games.

Tryin' ta get Sefth ta admit he'sh been cheatin' again, Hero… Hiiro… Heero.  
Trying to get Seth to admit he's been cheating again, Heero.

Why da hell shouldna be shmashded? ~ Why the hell shouldn't I be smashed?

Shure da hell beatsh lettin' da lot of dem glare holesh in da back a mah head!  
Sure the hell beats letting the lot of them glare holes in the back of my head!

Buncha unigrat… ungratified... ungrateful bashtards. ~ Bunch of ungrateful bastards.

Hadda nuff dat dam shnit in mah time at Hogwash's schuel of inbred whiztards.  
Had enough of that damn shit in my time at Hogwash's School of Inbred Wiztards.

Itsh all mine too… ain't sharin' wif no un 'cept maybee Sefth ifsh he shtopsh cheatin'.  
It's all mine too... ain't sharing with no one except maybe Seth if he stops cheating.

Shared mah dam shockolot and watd dat get mah? ~ Shared my damn chocolate and what did it get me?  
Nuffin' but dirty looksh; fuk dat shnit. ~ Nothing but dirty looks; fuck that shit.  
Not gonna. ~ Not going to.  
Can't make mah. ~ Can't make me.  
Can't drown 'em out… dam bashtards keep shtaring. ~ Can't drown them out... damn bastards keep staring.  
Tirdt of dem all shtaring wif dem dam cold eyesh. ~ Tired of them all staring with them damn cold eyes.  
Yesh… but ah don wan it. ~ Yes... but I don't want it.  
Jerk… ah don wanna be shober. ~ Jerk... I don't want to be sober.

* * *

**AN:** _Whew, I've been busy the last couple of days trying to finish up several things and didn't manage to make the time to get this posted until now. Part of it was the fact that I needed to shift several chapters of this story around to make the story flow smoother and eliminate a trio of extra short chapters. I also wanted to get the latest chapter of Haunted ready for posting before I posted another chapter on this story since I'd started posting that story long before I put this one up as well as finish a couple of omakes I had started for my Pokémon series. _

_The only thing I will address from the chapter here is Wolfstar's sentience. Now, I know there were a few people who'd asked about me whether or not any of the Gundams or the Star Suits Harry warded would be brought to life and at the time I'd told you no and yet here I am bringing one to life. Though, technically, I never said I wouldn't bring any suit to life; only that I would not have any of the warded Taurus Suits or the original five Gundams brought to life. Misleading, I know, but I hadn't wanted to give away what I was going to do to Wing Zero back then. _

_The only reason I brought Wolfstar to life was because of the Zero system… The interaction between pilot and Zero plus the addition of magic and a mental connection was just too convenient for me not to use. Details on what Wolfstar is now capable of and just how 'alive' he is will be in the next chapter as well as an in-story explanation for why he came to life. The only other thing I will say now is that Wolfstar is NOT a Transformer and this story will not include anything from the Transformer Universe. So, sorry, there will be no Autobots or Decepticons here folks. _

_The last thing I will address is the numerous reviews that have asked me about what is happening back with Dumbledore and the rest of the magicals. I'm going to ask those of you who are curious about the repercussions of Sirius sending Harry away to be patient for a little while longer; I have not forgotten about the wizards and their story will be told but there are other things that need to happen first. ~ Jenn_

**12-13-12:**_ Fixed the first sentence in the last paragraph so that it makes a bit more sense... Thank you, mist shadow, for pointing out the problem. =)  
_


	31. A Homecoming with Magical Discussions

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 30: A Homecoming with Magical Discussions

Harry settled into his seat, buckled his seat-belt, and glanced about the slightly crowded shuttle. Wufei and Heero were up in the cockpit preparing for lift off while Duo and Quatre were piloting the second shuttle that Harry had warded prior to his capture (since not everyone would fit in just one). Zechs was seated just a few rows in front of Harry, Hilde was seated off to his left two rows back, and an additional fifteen pilots (including Haddock, Brian, and Takoda) were scattered about the rest of the rows.

Trowa was also on the other shuttle to watch over Une along with the other sixteen pilots that were traveling with them to Earth. A third shuttle, which was Zechs' personal shuttle, was carrying a dozen of Zechs' soldiers and a half dozen of Une's soldiers (including three of the four that Harry had pulled from the base after they'd been injured and unable to defend themselves) that would be heading to Earth as well. All three shuttles were loaded down with supplies (though the magically enhanced ones were holding more due to the magically expanded storage bins).

In the second shuttle, Superstar and Deathstar were secured in the cargo bay at full size in case they ran into trouble. In the shuttle that Harry was riding in, Dragonstar was ready to defend as well with Harry available to restore any of the other suits if they were needed. The two crippled Star Suits (Dogstar and Northstar), the four stolen Gundams (Mercurius, Vayeate, Wing II, and Heavyarms II), twenty-one modified Tauruses, and the Tallgeese were all currently shrunken and locked into the cargo bay of the original magically enhanced shuttle. Wolfstar had been shrunken down as well (after he'd reassured the suit that the size change wasn't permanent) but the sentient suit was currently curled up in Harry's rucksack because it hadn't wanted to be parted from Harry now that it was small enough to be carried around.

As they finally pulled out of the docking bay, Harry sighed and relaxed back into his seat with a small smile playing about his mouth as the thought that he was finally going home passed through his mind. He was really looking forward to seeing Cathy, Rashid, and Abdul again as well as spending time with the other snakes. He sat staring out the window for a long time, watching the moons of Jupiter as they flew passed the large planet while he allowed his mind to wander. He was pulled from his thoughts some two hours later by someone dropping down into the seat beside him and he glanced over to find Hilde watching him.

"May I ask you a question?"

Harry shrugged, knowing he couldn't stop her from asking; though, whether he bothered giving her an answer or not was another matter entirely.

"Why did you allow them to chase you away?"

"They didn't run me off; I chose to leave."

"Same thing," Hilde pointed out with a frown.

"No… they're not," Harry countered as he turned in the seat so that he was facing her. "Tell me; have you ever heard the saying that a leopard can't change its spots?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with you being chased out of the resistance?"

"Everything and nothing," Harry replied as he glanced at the younger teen over the top of his glasses. "It's true you know; a leopard can't change its spots. Prejudice is much like the spots on a leopard… fear, hate, distrust… they are the dark spots of humanity and they never change. People on the other hand _can_ change; that doesn't mean that a person _will_ change only that he or she _can_ change."

Unknown to Harry, several people stopped what they were doing to listen to him; Zechs included. Leaning forward slightly, Harry continued his explanation, "The people around us can sometimes influence those changes as we learn from them; people like our parents, our families, our friends, our neighbors, our rivals, and our enemies. We in turn influence them just as much. Despite the influence that one person can wield, you can't really force a person to change their beliefs or their behaviors though; they have to want to change themselves."

"Knowing that… why would I wish to stick around and butt heads with a bunch of old geezers set in their way and determined to hate me because I did what they secretly wished they could do? I left before they could order me to leave, before they could order me to be detained, and before someone got hurt in a foolish attempt to protect me. I left on my own terms and left them to deal with the consequences of their inability to see past their own fears. A wise man knows how to pick and choose his battles; both literally and figuratively."

"I'm not quite certain I fully understand but I think maybe I can see the difference now," Hilde murmured after a few moments. "And… I owe you an apology for the way I treated you when we first met. I was under a lot of stress at the time and scared out of my mind and I shouldn't have said the things I did. I'd heard terrible rumors about things you were said to have done from some of the older soldiers reporting to Colonel Une and you'd just killed all of those men without any hesitation. It was… intimidating."

"No apology needed; it's not like I was having a good day either considering my entire world had been turned upside down and inside out repeatedly during the two weeks prior to that day… or technically the four months leading up to that day. And it hurt me more than you will ever know to kill those men; if they had turned and ran away or surrendered, I would have left them alive and given them the same warning I gave to the others to get out. I don't enjoy killing but I will defend myself, my family, my friends, my allies, and the innocent."

Silence settled over the shuttle as the other pilots went back to their former activities while Hilde and Zechs both contemplated what they'd learned about Harry and Harry emptied his mind and lavished attention on Seth who'd slipped out of his shirt during his short speech. They were just coming up on Mars when Harry turned his attention back to Hilde and studied her for a moment before asking a question of his own. "How did you meet Duo?"

"We met on a space station and we talked for a bit before I tried to talk him into joining OZ as a soldier," Hilde confessed with a bit of a blush. "We'd had a difference of opinion on the matter and I later caught him trying to sneak onto a shuttle heading towards the Lunar Base. He wrecked havoc in the docking bay until he escaped in his Star Suit and I chased after him until he vanished. Just before I lost track of him, I asked him why he was trying to get himself killed and he said he had to make certain his little brother had no reason to cry."

"Heh… that sounds just like Duo; he thinks he's the stealthy one of the group but he shows off far more than any of the others," Harry stated with a soft laugh. "That must have been when he was trying to break Trowa and Heero out."

"Are you really Duo's brother? I mean the two of you look nothing alike. You don't really look like any of the others pilots that you call your brothers for that matter either."

"We may not have been born to the same parents but they are still my brothers. Heero found me and the others accepted me and gave me a reason to live again. I guess you could say that they saved me from myself."

"What about your parents?"

"Dead… long dead… and the only other blood relations I knew of aren't worth mentioning."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to dredge up old hurts."

"Don't worry about it; I grew up knowing my parents were dead and as for the rest of the family (and I use that term loosely) they were right bastards anyways and I couldn't be happier to be free from them. I made myself a new family and I have my brothers, my sister, and a whole bunch of troublesome, well meaning uncles and they are all I need."

"What, no future sweetheart?" Hilde asked teasingly.

"No… no sweetheart, future or otherwise; I couldn't bring myself to saddle any woman with my broken self nor would I wish to curse any child with my terrible luck."

"There might still be some lucky girl out there who may one day catch your eye," Hilde insisted; as if the mere idea of living out life alone were the most terrible thing in the world.

"And may the gods protect her from me," Harry murmured solemnly. "The last girl that caught my eye ended up with a dead boyfriend because I got him murdered."

The conversation sort of fell flat after that while Harry brooded a bit as he reburied old dreams and dwelled on old memories and nightmares. He eventually shoved his melancholy mood away and pulled out his custom cards in order to have something to do with his hands. The light flashing off the sharpened edges and the sound of the cards sliding together drew both Zechs' and Hilde's attention back to Harry and they watched as Harry simply shuffled the cards and randomly performed some of his less dangerous card tricks (juggling being a little hazardous with someone sitting right next to him).

"Where exactly did you get those from?" Zechs asked curiously as he moved closer in order to get a better look. "I'd never seen anything like them before you began playing with them during the time you were being held at the Luxembourg Castle and it was more than a little shocking to see you use them to not only kill but also cut through steel with them."

"I made them."

"Why would you make something like that?" Hilde asked a bit queasily as she leaned a bit further away from Harry; her memory of the first time she saw those cards in the forefront of her mind.

"A couple of reasons… I was a prisoner at the time and not only did I have nothing better to do, I was bored. I felt naked without my knives and I wanted something that wasn't obviously a weapon because it would have been confiscated and it also had to be easy to carry. I'd been shuffling a regular deck of cards at the time and I thought it would be cool if I could juggle the cards like I do my knives and I went from there."

"You juggle knives? What's wrong with juggling colorful little balls or bean bags? Is there anything you do that isn't dangerous?"

"I breathe… but no… even that can be dangerous if you try to breathe while you're drinking and someone makes you laugh or you breathe in poison. I guess… that means the answer to your question is no; there is nothing I do that isn't dangerous."

"I'll believe that," Zechs dryly agreed. "May I see one of the cards?"

Harry glanced up sharply at the question as his hands stilled before he shrugged and calmly passed the man the king of suns (which happened to be Harry's father), "Mind the edges, they are quite sharp and can cut through most anything."

"It weighs far more than I thought it would," Zechs stated as he carefully held the card between thumb and forefinger to avoid the edges. "What are they made from? And the artwork is amazingly detailed… far more intricate than one would expect on a deadly weapon. I'm also curious as to where you got your hands on a laser machine to burn the images onto the cards. Who is this man supposed to be? He almost looks like you did when I first saw you."

"They are made from highly compressed silver and the artwork was all done free-hand using a very rare type of paint."

"May I see one?" Hilde asked, curious to see what they were talking about and Harry passed her the jack of crescent moons. "Oh, I see what you mean by them being heavier than expected and that's Duo on this card!"

"Yes… the cards represent my family… both past and present," Harry explained as he pulled out the other face cards and placed them picture side up on his lap as Zechs leaned curiously over the back of the seat in front of Harry to get a better look as Harry named each of them. "The king, queen, and jack of suns are my father, my mother, and Quatre respectfully. The king, queen, and jack of full moons are Moony, Hermione, and Wufei and the king, queen, and jack of crescent moons are Heero, Relena Darlian, and Duo. I don't really know Relena all that well and she's not technically family but she was the only other girl I knew at the time I made the cards and she's got a thing for Heero since he saved her life. The king of stars is my godfather, Padfoot, while the queen and jack are Cathy and Trowa."

"What is the significance of the changed suits?" Zechs inquired as he picked up Sirius's card to study the man Harry had often mentioned with fondness, exasperation, and pain during the months Zechs held him prisoner (both back on earth and on the moon).

"I can understand the mobile suits in the backgrounds of the pilots' cards but why didn't you use the Star Suits since those are the only suits I've seen the pilot? And what do the animals and flowers mean in the background of the other cards?" Hilde asked at the same time.

"The suits represent the heavens and each person was placed in the suit that best suited them; my parents and Quatre are suns because they represent the warmth in my life. My godfather was named after the Dog Star and both Cathy and Trowa were stars in the circus. Moony… he had a love-hate relationship with the full moon and both Hermione and Wufei are smart like Moony and they light the night up when things look bleak. Heero and Duo could have fit almost anywhere and they ended up where they did because the others fit the other suits better. Relena I don't really know well enough and like I said she's got a thing for Heero."

"The backgrounds pictures are significant to each person; my brothers were the Gundam pilots long before they became the Star Pilots and it was the Gundams that brought us together, the animals are a reflection of the inner natures of my father, godfather, and honorary uncle, and I picked the flowers that best represent each of the queens. The stag is considered the king of the forest and my father was the leader of his group of friends. The dog is always portrayed as man's best friend and my godfather was my father's best and closest friend and he was fiercely loyal to my dad. The wolf is often seen as a symbol of protection and family and my honorary uncle was fiercely protective of both of my parents and my godfather."

"As for the queens and their flowers; my mother's name was Lily and I was told that she had quite the temper so I gave her a tiger lily, Hermione has forget-me-nots because I don't want to ever forget my first true friend, Cathy has a chrysanthemum because she mothered me and mum is short for both mother and the flower, and I gave Relena a rose bud because it represents her potential to grow and it is pink because of her crush on Heero (not to mention the fact that she seems to be obsessed with the color pink). The design on the back of the deck is based on my parents', my godfather's, and Moony's cards."

"I'm surprised you didn't make a card for yourself," Zechs remarked as he handed the two cards he was holding back to Harry.

"I made myself the fool twice over," Harry replied as he shuffled the face cards back into the deck (including Duo's as Hilde passed it back to him) and pulled out the two jokers after a slight hesitation when both man and teen leaned forward expectantly.

"Why are they so different?"

"This one represents the person I was before I lost everything and the other one is who I saw myself as after I realized I didn't want to lose the new family I'd found."

Harry picked up the card of him wearing his Quidditch robes and smiled sadly at it. The robes in the picture were flaring around him as he stood on his broom (representing his love of flying) which was balanced on a thick book (a reminder of Hermione's love of learning) juggling ten snitches (one for each game he had played*). Hedwig was sitting on his left shoulder with Hogwarts castle and the Forbidden Forest etched into the background. Tucked between the trees of the forest were outlines of all of the various magical creatures that Harry had encountered during his years at Hogwarts.

On the castle walls Harry had etched the words 'The Marauders' with 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' underneath that and the names Prongs, Padfoot, and Moony written below the map's password. His wand (representing his magic) appeared along one edge of the card and Gryffindor's sword (representing the battles he had faced) on the other (both of them pointed in opposing directions) with the J in the word joker (written right-side up across the top and upside-down across the bottom of the card) balanced on the tip of each.

On the other joker, Harry was wearing his black and maroon show costume and standing on the curved blade of a katana that was balanced on a violin (a reference to Wufei teaching him self defense and sword fighting and Quatre's love of music). Beauty's body was coiled around his body twice with the bulk of her length pooled around his feet, her tail holding the handle of the sword, and her head hanging over his left shoulder. This time he was juggling seven knives (one for each member of his new family patchwork family* and representing the first set of knives that Trowa gave him).

In the background was a shooting star with the outline of Wing in flight mode in the heart of the star (a reference to the wish he'd made on Heero's Gundam the day he found the teen on his beach which he had added to the card while being held captive by Zechs on the Lunar Base). His wand was once again sitting along one edge with a pair of lock picks on the other with the J's once again balanced on the tips (representing the constant presence of magic in his life and Duo's lessons in street smarts).

"They are wonderfully done but why do you look older in the one you said represented your old life?"

"Long, painful story…"

"Do you have interesting pictures on the aces and the numbers as well?"

"Just the aces but they are nothing more than detailed pictures of each suit symbol. The numbered cards are rather plain in comparison with the number of suit symbols outlined on each card matching the number of the card. I thought about adding other images to them but decided against it because the numbered cards are the ones I actually use to… well they're the ones I fight with when I don't have my knives or don't have room to use them; the face cards, the aces, and the jokers have never been used to kill anyone. You could say those cards were created simply to flesh out the deck and for their sentimental value."

"You put a lot of thought and effort into making them," Hilde commented softly.

"I had a lot of time on my hands when I made them," Harry replied with a humorless laugh as he glanced up to meet Zechs' eyes for a split second.

"What else can you do with them besides kill?" Hilde asked as she watched Harry shuffling the deck again.

"I can juggle them, throw them like knives, and use them for card tricks if I wanted."

"How many of them do you juggle at a time? It sounds like it would be hard to keep track of more than five of them."

"It took me quite a bit of practice but I can juggle all fifty-four cards."

"I'd have to see that to believe it," Takoda interjected from where he and some of the other pilots had been shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation again out of curiosity since Harry rarely ever spoke of himself or his family.

"It's a little crowded in here…" Harry started only to trail off when all of the pilots began shuffling around so that the isle between the two sections of seats was open for several rows in both directions. "I guess that was a silent demand to give a demonstration anyway but I'm not going to use more than fifteen as there just isn't enough vertical space in here for me to keep all fifty-four of them in the air. Keep your hands and fingers well out of reach, the cards are exceedingly sharp; as in sharp enough to cut through a steel door."

"I can vouch for that," Zechs added as he recalled Harry using one of the cards to cut open the door to the interrogation room.

Harry snorted as he stood up and stepped around Hilde so he could reach the open isle. He then tucked all but five of the cards into his pocket and started flicking the cards into the air. Once he had the flow of the cards steady, he began adding another card every few seconds until he eventually had almost one third of the deck in the air as his hands flashed through the air so fast they appeared as blurs. He then pulled a couple of the simpler tricks he'd perfected; tossing a few of the cards behind his back and spinning around in a single circle while still juggling.

Six minutes after he'd added the fifteenth card, Harry plucked the cards out of the air and tucked them away into the secret pocket of his undershirt as he gave a short, sharp bow; sweat dripping down the side of his face from the effort it had taken to pull off the short demonstration without making any mistakes. The clapping, cat calls, and whistles his small audience gave out sounded loud after the near silence of nothing but the cards cutting through the air and Harry ducked his head and blushed even as a pleased smile played about his lips; he'd missed performing in front of an audience.

"That was… incredible," Hilde breathed.

"Incredibly stupid to do in the shuttle," Heero dryly corrected from the doorway where he'd watched the last few minutes of the performance.

"What can I say; I'm a sucker for a willing audience," Harry replied with a shrug. "Besides, the shuttle is protected against the cards so even if I dropped one it wouldn't have done any real damage; I made certain of that before we left Earth. The mobile suits are protected as well. I also didn't use them all and was extremely careful."

"And if we'd run into trouble you might have injured yourself or one of the others. Moot point, now; just don't do it again. I'm just thankful that no one got hurt; including you. Anyway, I came to let you all know that we're just about ready to reenter Earth's atmosphere so please return to your seats."

Harry gave Heero a jaunty salute as he returned to his former seat (so he could secure the hidden Wolfstar) and buckled himself back into his seat-belt as the other pilots returned to their seats as well; except for Hilde and Zechs who simply buckled into the seats they were sitting in. Remembering the feeling of his magic stretching and snapping back into place when he first left Earth, Harry pressed himself into his chair and tried to mentally prepare himself for something similar to happen on reentry.

Ten minutes later, Harry was once again staring out the window at the ocean as they charted a roundabout course back to the Winner Estate so as not to give away their final destination to anyone who noted their entrance. Even as he enjoyed the view, his mind contemplated the lack of an effect that the reentry had had on his magic because he wasn't certain what that might mean in the long run. As night fell and they turned towards home, Harry shoved his slight anxiety out of his mind as he focused on the coming reunion with the rest of his family.

Around his neck, Seth was offering up a steady stream of appreciation for all the things he hadn't done since going with Harry into space (including bathing in the sand for warmth and eating freshly caught wild shrews). All around him, the other pilots were glued to the windows as they took in the view while beside him Hilde kept peering beyond Harry to stare out his window; most of them having lived their entire lives out in space. As the landing gear was lowered and the shuttle dropped down closer to the Earth's surface, Harry felt excitement bubbling up inside of him and he was practically bouncing in his seat (much as he had been just before take off the day they left).

The moment the shuttle drifted to a complete stop inside of the hanger bay, Harry unbuckled his seat-belt, grabbed his rucksack, and vaulted over the seats so that he was the first one to the door. Five seconds later, he was jumping down out of the shuttle without waiting for the stairs to be moved into place. The moment his feet touched the ground, Harry felt his magic reconnect with the Earth and he gasped softly, clutched his chest, and rose up on his toes in shock as the drain on his core pulled uncomfortably on his magic.

He quickly shook off the strange feeling as he caught sight of Rashid and Abdul walking towards him and a huge grin spread across his face as he dashed across the distance separating them so he could greet both men (stopping just out of physical reach of the pair). He jabbered at them a mile a minute right up until he caught sight of Cathy entering the hanger bay and he cut off in the middle of a sentence so he could bolt over to the not quite eighteen year old to give her a hug as she twirled him around with a laugh. By that time everyone else had exited the shuttle and a number of them were staring at Harry in shock as they'd never really seen him act so childish before (not counting Zechs and his brothers).

Harry was off and running again a minute later as he headed into the house to visit with the other snakes; pausing only long enough to set Seth down so the snake could spend some time in the desert. He wasn't seen again for the rest of the night as he spent the entire evening catching up with the snakes; sharing stories of what space was like and telling them about a few of his and Seth's many adventures. He ended up sleeping in a tree beside Beauty that night; his wings hanging down to either side of him as he slept on his belly on one of the thicker tree branches with Wolfstar watching over him from a few branches higher.

The next day the estate took on a festive air as the space pilots mingled with the Maganacs as they barbequed all day long out in the courtyard while games were played, skills were showcased, and amusing stories exchanged. Through it all, Harry wore a huge grin on his face as his mismatched eyes fairly shone with life over being reunited with the rest of his family. The only time he wasn't grinning was when he gave a full out, no holds barred demonstration of his card and knife juggling and throwing skills. The moment it was over the grin was back bigger than ever as he soaked up the appreciation and admiration the display had garnered from everyone. Not once that day did Harry care that Zechs was present or that the man had spent most of his time shadowing Harry and watching the wizard interact with everyone.

The second day home saw things going back to business as usual as the Maganacs began repairing the two damaged Star Suits, replacing the burnt circuitry on the four new Gundams and the Tallgeese, redesigning the Vayeate and the Mercurius to correct the flaws the scientists had built into them, and preparing all four newer Gundams for warding (much to Harry's displeasure). The repairs to Dogstar and Northstar would necessitate a reworking of their wards due to several sections of the suits' armor needing to be replaced but that would have to wait until the repairs were finished. The space pilots (that had followed Harry and his brothers) and Hilde were given that day to lounge around and get over the space lag of being on Earth for the first time produced as they had never before experienced true gravity.

Quatre spent the day locked in his office catching up on the backlog of paperwork that had piled up while he'd been gone. Trowa would spend the day monitoring Une's condition and ordering any medical supplies he needed in order to treat her condition. Wufei took charge of Zechs and Une's soldiers and kept them from snooping about too much. And finally, Heero and Duo began servicing the numerous Taurus suits (including the undamaged Star Suits) that they had brought with them. That left Harry to keep an eye on Zechs (not that he wanted to) while he set about making the last of the needed modifications to Wolfstar.

The first hour was awkward but eventually Harry stopped watching the slightly older man out of the corner of his eye all the time and just focused on what he was doing. The man even willingly played 'go-for' when Harry needed parts or tools without a word of complaint. Harry thought part of the reason he allowed himself to relax around his former captor was because the man no longer wore his mask (the mask having been lost or destroyed shortly after Zechs' arrest). He wasn't quite ready to admit that it also had a lot to do with the changes Harry had seen taking place in the man over the last few weeks he'd spent as the man's quasi-prisoner (those that occurred during the last week being the most startling).

* * *

Over the course of the next week, Harry continued to work on Wolfstar during the day and hang out with his family or the snakes in the evenings; the sentient suit tagging along inside of Harry's rucksack whenever he wasn't being worked on. The fact that Wolfstar was constantly disappearing from the underground hanger bothered everyone in Harry's rather large family except for Harry himself (since he knew exactly where it was at all times).

The only other person that even knew Harry carried the suit with him everywhere was Zechs and that was only because the man continued to shadow Harry day in and day out except when Harry slept or spent time with the snakes (Zechs refused to call it stalking though he did admit he was obsessed with the winged teen). And even then, the former OZ soldier had no idea that Harry was sleeping with the suit (or rather the suit either sat and watched over Harry or curled up beside Harry while the wizard slept).

At the end of that first week (after watching Harry slip into the snake habitats – a place the twenty year old felt distinctly uncomfortable in and therefore avidly avoided), Zechs happened to overhear Duo, Trowa, and Heero discussing the disappearing suit and their concerns over a possible security breach. They apparently hadn't realized that it was Harry taking the suit out due to Harry having grown adept at avoiding security cameras during the long months he'd spent out in space. It didn't help that Wolfstar was perfectly capable of hacking into the surveillance network and doctoring the videos and often did so in response to Harry's unspoken desire to not be seen that the suit picked up on through their connection.

The moment Zechs understood that the three pilots were concerned about a spy or traitor in their midst, he calmly informed them that Harry never let the suit out of his sight and that when he wasn't working on it, he carried it with him in the rucksack. That of course sparked a whole new set of concerns as they feared that the Zero System might have taken hold of Harry's mind at some point. More than one person living on the estate had noted Harry's mismatched eyes glowing red and gold at least once or twice over the past week; which only increased their worry since the glow usually indicated an active connection with the Zero System.

Those concerns were the reason why Harry found himself (and Wolfstar) being hustled into one of the estate's many conference rooms just after dawn on his tenth day back on Earth. Not quite fully awake with Wolfstar cradled against his chest like a baby Harry blinked sleepily at his five brothers, Cathy, Rashid, Abdul, and strangely enough Zechs (the man invited along because he'd been the one who'd informed the others of what was going on). Harry was then steered into a chair and handed a cup of coffee (to help him wake up) while everyone else gathered around the chair he was sitting in wearing stern expressions coupled with open concern as they eyed him critically. More than one of them frowned at Wolfstar when Harry refused to set the suit down.

"What's going on? Did something happen?" Harry asked with a tinge of worry since he'd rarely ever seen those gathered in the room looking so serious unless there was a problem.

"You tell us," Heero countered as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the table behind him. "I think we'd all like to know exactly what is going on."

"Er… you've lost me…"

"Why were you sleeping with Wing Zero in your bed? And why have you been carrying him around every where you go?" Quatre asked carefully after he cleared his throat to get Harry's attention.

"This is about Wolfstar…?" Harry slowly repeated as he glanced down at the suit cradled in his left arm. It was at that point that he remembered that he'd never informed his brothers about what his magic had done to the suit and he sighed as he realized that they were probably jumping to the wrong conclusion. Glancing back up, Harry gave a soft laugh and a sheepish smile as he embarrassingly replied, "Sorry, I completely forgot I didn't tell you what happened; I meant to bring it up earlier but between one thing and another it slipped my mind."

"What exactly is it that you forgot to tell us and what does it have to do with you dragging Wing Zero around like a stuffed toy?" Trowa inquired with a frown.

"The Law of Unintended Consequences," Harry stated simply as if that explained everything.

"Alright… I remember ya babblin' that nonsense about that law thingy before but ya never did explain what it was ya were talkin' about," Duo drawled as he picked up the end of his braid and absently brushed it across his chin as he contemplated Harry and the suit. "Feel free ta explain now, kiddo."

"Not sure I can explain exactly but I'll try. Do you remember back when I explained the Laws of Magic to Wufei back when I first woke up after that bout of Space Flu? I still say that sounds like some kind of imaginary disease, by the way, but I suppose it's no stranger than catching Dragon Pox or Vanishing Sickness. Anyway, I know the rest of you either listened into that conversation or watched the video of it later because it didn't take me long to figure out that you guys would have bugged my room to watch over me after you guys started teaching me about computers and surveillance systems."

"I vaguely recall that conversation though I don't think Rashid or Abdul heard it even second hand and neither Cathy nor Zechs was around at the time; so why don't you refresh our memories," Trowa suggested after a few minutes.

"I suppose that would be best," Harry mused as he glanced around at everyone, absently noting that Zechs was silently mouthing the word 'magic' to himself as if trying to convince himself that he'd just heard the word being used. "First of all, contrary to myths, legends, and fiction; while magic seems to defy all logic it does have to conform to a set of rules and laws. Which basically means that even magic has limits such as; I can't create life, I can't raise the dead, and I can't conjure food. I can, however, simulate life, I could animate a corpse (something I have no desire to do), and I can use magic to cook or change the appearance of food or move it between two places."

"The exact wording of those laws are far more complex but I really don't want to get into the theory behind magic right now. The law that applies in this situation is called the Law of Unintended Consequences. The basic premise of the law is that complete control is an illusion and that even the best laid plans can go wrong and it applies to all things magic even more so than it applies to everyday life in general. The end results are usually unpredictable and can be positive, negative, or neutral in nature. My wings are a prime example of the Law of Unintended Consequences as I did not set out to give myself wings the night that I escaped from the Luxembourg Castle."

"What exactly does this have ta do with whatever ya were talkin' about da other day or da suit for that matter?" Duo demanded as he tugged on his braid and frowned at Harry.

"It's easiest if I show you," Harry replied as he glanced down at the mobile suit in his arm before he climbed to his feet and walked around the others to set the suit in the middle of the table. He then turned his head to glance at those watching him in confusion as he softly warned, "Just whatever you do try not to insult him or scream because he is still young and he scares easily. And Heero, you are not allowed to shoot him." That garnered some funny looks from everyone present but Harry didn't see them as he'd turned back to face the suit as he gave a soft whistle and called, "Wolfstar…? You can go ahead and wake up boy… you don't have to hide from those in the room."

Heero was about to ask Harry if he was feeling alright only for the words to die on his lips as the miniature Gundam suddenly whirred to life and glanced around a moment before it began walking towards where Harry was holding a hand out to the suit. Once he reached Harry, he reached out and grabbed hold of Harry's shirt in order to climb up to sit on Harry's shoulder's so he could peer at those watching. A few jaws hit the ground when the suit fired up its jets and lifted off of Harry's shoulder a few seconds later to hover in place as if it was trying to get a better look at the others.

"Harry… what did you do?" Heero asked tightly, unconsciously using Harry's real name in his shock even as one hand reflexively reached for the pistol he kept tucked into his pants at the small of his back.

"Based upon everything I learned about the system, the Zero Interface usually overwhelms the pilot's brain and causes hallucinations as it speeds up the pilot's reaction times and cuts the amount of time it takes for the brain to process the information being fed through the interface. When Zero established the connection to my mind it tried to take control; which was the reason why I passed out for about ten minutes at the beginning of the battle. My mind is not defenseless though and I was able to use my magic to subdue the Zero System; which gave me complete control of the suit while forging a connection between me and the Zero System. During the battle that followed, my magic was siphoned off through that connection in order to enhance Wolfstar's performance and that magic didn't just vanish or dissipate once it left me."

"So where did it go?" Wufei inquired as he slipped closer to better study the hovering suit.

"Into Wolfstar," Harry answered with a shrug. "My magic in conjunction with the Zero Interface imparted a form of sentience into the suit. He has obtained a sense of self, he displays primitive emotions, he has a heartbeat of sorts, and he can communicate to an extent. He doesn't actually have a soul, has no need to eat or breathe, and while he can learn to an extent he lacks the ability to think and reason outside of his programming. He'll never grow, never reproduce, will never feel true pain, and he does not bleed when you cut him but he is for all intents and purposes alive."

"I thought you said you couldn't create life," Abdul commented as he watched the hovering suit.

"I didn't create life; Wolfstar is simply the highest and most complex form of enchantment possible. Which basically means that all my magic did was give the suit a semblance of life and a personality that was based upon the memory of someone I admired; split though it is."

"Ya brought a deadly and dangerous war machine ta life and gave it a split personality?" Duo demanded incredulously.

"Uh… well… not intentionally; it was because he reminded me of Moony during the full moon and it sort of just stuck, which is how he got the name Wolfstar. He'll be fairly tame most of the time but during a battle he's all business."

"I think I have a headache now," Heero deadpanned.

"Just think of him as an overgrown puppy or a young child," Harry innocently suggested as Wolfstar eagerly nodded his head in agreement; proving that the suit could understand them on some level. "And like all puppies (or children) he craves lots of attention and needs constant supervision; hence the reason why I've been taking him every where I go. I was also afraid someone would see him and hurt him if he startled them, that he'd accidentally squash someone walking around on his own at his full height, or that he'd wonder off and get lost in the desert."

"During that first discussion we had about your magic, you had stated that the enchantment would only last so long as there was enough magic to support the spell. The little bird you created at the time only lasted for a few minutes. How long do you think the enchantment placed upon the suit will last?" Wufei asked curiously.

"The reason the bird didn't last very long was because I didn't pour very much magic into the transfiguration that created the humming bird that day. It wasn't a simple spell that powered the changes to Wolfstar though; I poured my entire core into the suit over the course of the battle. I didn't have more than a drop of magic left to my name when it was over. That was the reason why I was unconscious for so long afterwards; my body and my core both needed that time to recover.

"You mentioned that it has a limited capability to learn but lacks the ability to think or reason outside of its programming," Quatre stated as he moved up beside Wufei to get a closer look at the miniature suit. "Could you give us an idea of just intelligent is it?"

"I'm not exactly certain but because of the connection we share, he pretty much knows everything I know and that's not even counting what he can potentially learn through the various programs installed on his system or through his external scanners and the internet. I'm pretty certain it's safe to say he is very intelligent; far more intelligent than the car that gained sentience from the wards surrounding Hogwarts at the start of my second year. That car went feral and lived in the forest on the school grounds."

"You've brought something to life like this before?" Cathy asked in surprise.

"Not exactly… I missed the train at the start of my second year; a crazy house elf blocked me and another boy out of the platform. We took the boy's father's enchanted car (it flew much like Sirius's motorbike) and when we crossed the wards the moment we reached Hogwarts the engine died. We crashed into the Whomping Willow and when the tree tried to pound the car into dust, the car took on a life of its own, ejected both us and our luggage, and promptly disappeared into the forest. I suspect the enchantments on the car were shoddy work at best and that the car wasn't properly warded which is why the high levels of magic surrounding Hogwarts affected it and eventually turned it feral."

"Elves? Flying cars? Attacking trees? Living machines? Magic…?" Zechs repeated in a bit of a daze as he dropped down into the chair Harry had been sitting in earlier. "What exactly is this 'magic' you keep mentioning?"

"Do you want the scientific explanation, the textbook definition, or a literary reference?" Harry cheekily asked as amusement filled his eyes over Zechs' confusion.

"Oh…? This could be interestin'; why don't ya give us all of da above?" Duo encouraged with an equal amount of humor and curiosity.

"Alright; scientifically speaking, magic can be defined as an ability that allows a select number of people to manipulate energy and matter," Harry began after sharing a grin with the playful and mischievous teen. "The textbook definition as we learned it in our first year at Hogwarts is that magic is a power we are born with that sets us apart from everyone else and it allows those who are born with it to control and command the world around us. The more powerful the witch or wizard the greater they can affect everything and everyone around them."

"In literature, most notably in fiction, magic is often a power that is gifted by the gods, passed from master to apprentice, can be learned by anyone through rare archaic tomes, or is gained through making a deal with a demon or the devil. Fictional magic only comes in two types; there's the good magic that creates miracles and then there's the evil magic that corrupts and destroys everything it comes into contact with."

"Is there such thing as good and evil magic?" Cathy inquired.

"I was once told that there is no good or evil; there is only power.* There is some truth in that despite the questionable source I heard it from; magic is neither good nor evil, it just is. On the other hand, the intentions of the person wielding the magic greatly influence whether the end result is something good or something terrible. I don't think the world can be painted in black or white though because there are thousands of shades of gray in between the two extremes and emotions paint everything with different colors. I have used my magic to heal, protect, and create. I have also used my magic to destroy and to kill."

"You used your… magic… to do something to the cell doors when you freed the pilots and the scientists," Zechs stated with a frown. "That was also how you'd been able to steal large amounts of equipment without getting caught."

"Yes, I used my magic to temporarily change the steel doors to paper so I could break through them. I could have made the transformation near permanent but that much magic would have shut down the entire base in an instant and drained me to exhaustion as changing metal to paper is far more difficult than changing wood to paper. I didn't need to waste the magic or make the transformation last that long though because all I needed was to make the doors weak just long enough for me to break them. And it wasn't my magic alone that stole everything but it certainly helped transport everything that was stolen."

"We're getting way off topic here," Heero interjected crisply at that point, his blue eyes still firmly fixed on the hovering Wolfstar. "We are supposed to be discussing the suit; not Taliesin's magic." He then shifted to look at Harry as he asked, "Can you undo whatever it was you did?"

Harry's breath hitched as the full impact of what Heero was asking him to do hit him like a punch to the stomach (much as it had back when he'd first realized what he'd done to the suit and considered destroying it). Fury flooded through Harry an instant later and he reacted instinctively; snatching Wolfstar out of the air and wrapping him protectively in his arms and he hissed coldly, "Fuck you, Heero." Harry then spun around and stormed towards the door, his entire body trembling with rage.

"Taliesin, stop!"

Harry ignored the order, actively rebelling against his oath for the first time in months. Pain shot through his chest and his footsteps faltered but he did his best to ignore the pain as he focused on the door that was almost within reach; the wizard far too angry at that moment to heed the warning.

"Please, Harry; do not leave," Heero softly ordered when it became obvious that he wasn't going to comply with the first order.

Gritting his teeth, Harry allowed his feet to slow to a stop as the pain spiked enough to steal his breath before he spun around in place; his hands seeking out a pair of his hidden knives as he fell into a defensive stance. Wolfstar desperately clung to Harry's shirt now that Harry was no longer supporting the suit, his optic sensors angled upwards so that he was focused on Harry's face. Uncontrolled magic visibly swirled around Harry, tugging at his clothes as his eyes began glowing red and gold in his rage; the tight leash he'd kept his magic under while out in space having been discarded the moment they'd touched down ten days earlier.

Almost everyone in the room took a collective step backwards at the unexpected fury Heero's simple question had evoked. The only three people that didn't move were Heero, Trowa, and Zechs. Heero and Trowa held their ground because they'd both seen Harry in a towering rage at least once before (Heero when he'd first met Harry and Trowa the day after they'd first been captured by OZ); though neither one had seen him surrounded by a visible aura of magic before. Zechs on the other hand, had no place to go since he was sitting down.

"No one in this room is going to harm you, Taliesin," Trowa murmured calmly as he slowly made his way forward. "Nor is anyone going to hurt Wolfstar, so please calm down and put away your knives."

"That… that… jerk just ordered me to destroy Wolfstar," Harry growled; his usual colorful array of curses and creative insults failing him in his rage. "He, in essence, just told me to kill a part of myself."

"I didn't tell you to kill Wolfstar, Harry," Heero corrected automatically as he held his hands up to show he was unarmed. "I was only curious if the process could be reversed and if I'd known just asking that question would have bothered you so much I would have worded it differently or not asked it at all. I swear; I had no intention of it coming out sounding like I was ordering you to kill anyone or anything. And I would never order you to harm yourself."

Harry glared at Heero for another three full minutes as everyone in the room held their breath to see what Harry would do. He then slowly relaxed his stance and put away his knives, wrapping one arm protectively around Wolfstar as the suit curled up against his shoulder now that Harry's anger was slowly fading; though his eyes remained tinted red and gold indicating that he was still quite upset and that his connection to Zero was still active within his mind. It took several minutes longer for the magic he was exuding to dissipate.

"Thank you, Taliesin," Trowa stated as he crossed the distance separating them and gently escorted Harry back to the others; the wizard balking only once when they drew close to Heero. "Now, can you please explain what you meant when you referred to Wolfstar as being part of yourself? I'm not quite certain I followed your logic."

"Magically speaking, Wolfstar can be considered a part of me because it was my magic that gave him life and my mind is still connected to the Zero Interface. He has his own personality and he can think independently of me but at the same time he takes direction from the connection we share; which makes him an extension of me and my will."

"You've mentioned having a connection to the suit or the Zero Interface several times now… what exactly do you mean when you say you share a connection? How and when did it happen and is it permanent?" Heero tentatively asked, his words chosen carefully so as not to stir up Harry's anger a second time.

Harry stared at the other teen for nearly a full minute before another warning twinge had him grudgingly answering the questions, "The connection formed when Zero attempted to invade and take over my mind; much like it did when each of you tested the suit. The difference is that I have far more control over my inner mind due to my magic and I fought the system for dominance within my mindscape and eventually won when I trapped Zero. Knowing that the Zero system was integral to controlling Wolfstar I accepted its presence in my mind which is when the bond between us formed, I think. I'm pretty certain it is permanent because it has fully integrated itself into both my mindscape and my magic at this point."

"What does that mean exactly? Is there a chance da system could rebel against your control and take ya over?" Duo asked with no little concern.

"It means that Wolfstar can sense my moods and I can understand him on a level beyond his current ability to communicate. I imagine when I fly with him it will mean that we fly as one entity instead of as pilot and suit. I'd like to believe that I never have to worry about him challenging me for control of our bond but I'm not that arrogant. I suspect he will be content to consider me his alpha unless I was to become emotionally or mentally unstable at which point, like the feral wolf he takes half of his personality from, the moment he senses any weakness he will attack without mercy."

"That's not very reassurin' ya know."

"Sorry… I wasn't going to lie about the risks though," Harry stated with a shrug as he teasingly played with Wolfstar's feet as if tickling the suit without realizing he was doing it. "Is there anything else you needed from us or can I go now?"

"Just one last thing," Heero declared softly after a moment, his face hiding all emotion as he calmly met Harry's still slightly angry eyes. "Harry James Potter; I hereby release you from the sworn oath of obedience you gave to me in the year one-ninety-five A.C."

Harry staggered backwards in disbelief as he felt the oath he'd sworn to Heero on the beach over a year ago unraveling from his soul and the unexpected shock of it sent him reeling as he dropped backwards onto the floor. Sure, Heero promised to release Harry from his oath one day (under the stipulation that Harry learned how to protect himself) but Harry hadn't actually believed it would happen. So the sudden release of the oath caught Harry completely off guard coming out of the blue like it did.

"I probably should have done that a long time ago," Heero murmured. "Right now though, the last thing I want is for you to ever think that I'd use your oath against you to force you to do something that would ultimately hurt you."

Poleaxed, Harry watched Heero leave the room at that point; his brain still trying to process exactly what just happened.

* * *

**Notes:**

*The number of actual games that Harry played is questionable and the number I used was based upon the idea that the four Houses played each other once with one final game between the two teams with the most points to determine who won the cup. Using those numbers (four possible games a year for each team) and knowing that Harry missed out on the final games of both his first and second year (first he was unconscious after facing Quirrell-mort and in his second year Quidditch was canceled after Hermione was petrified) I came up with a total of ten games that Harry played; three, three, and four (since there was also no Quidditch in fourth year and Harry never made it to fifth year in this story).

*The number of knives reflect those he considered his family at the time he made the cards; one for each of the five Gundam pilots, one for Cathy, and one for himself.

*Partial quote by Voldemort from chapter seventeen of HP & the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone.

* * *

**AN:** _Ah… what a chapter; a ton of information and only a little action. There are just a few things to clear up before I run out the door after leaving a nice little cliffy for y'all. _

_Harry's comments about no future sweetheart… I've already said I plan to pair him up with someone so you can take his words in this chapter here as him being his usual fatalistic and pessimistic self. His current opinion and belief is only temporary, though I can guarantee that he won't become love struck in the blink of an eye and do an abrupt about face in the space of a single paragraph. _

_Next up is Harry's interactions with Wolfstar… No, Harry is not going to treat the suit like a child constantly. Once the suit 'matures' a bit, for lack of a better term, Harry won't be so protective of it. And the fact that he was carrying it about like a stuffed animal towards the middle of the chapter was because he'd just been dragged out of bed and wasn't fully awake. The suit will remain close to him whenever it is in its shrunken state but he won't always be carrying it around in his arms or anything like that. _

_And lastly, let's see a show of hands from those that thought I'd never let Heero release Harry from his oath despite the fact that I always maintained that the oath was temporary. It was a very convenient way of keeping Harry in line but Heero never meant for Harry to be tied to him that way for the rest of his life. The only question now is on whether or not Harry will follow through on the threat he'd given Heero the night he swore his oath. The answer to that question will be in the next chapter… _

_Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter… For those of you who have read The Wishing Door, I've just finished uploading the edited chapters (though nothing major was changed) and added another omake. The Wizard's World will be given the same treatment next as well as another full chapter and an omake as I've been cleaning up the first two parts of the series in order to fix things for part three – the first chapter of which I hope to have up no later than New Year's. ~ Jenn_

**12-15-12:** _Made a grammatical correction.__  
_


	32. Fact, Fiction, and Rumor

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 31: Fact, Fiction, and Rumor

Eventually, everyone but Harry, Trowa, and Zechs filed out of the room with Cathy hesitating for just a moment as she eyed Harry with concern. Trowa only stayed because Zechs showed no sign of leaving and the green eyed teen didn't think it wise to leave Harry alone with the man due to the wizard's current emotional state. Zechs on the other hand stayed because he was currently in a state of shock not unlike Harry's as the twenty year old tried to process everything he'd learned about Harry (and Harry's abilities) that morning.

Wolfstar's natural curiosity (a personality trait based upon Harry's memories of Remus) kicked in after while and the small sentient suit pulled away from Harry's loose grip. The suit then switched itself into flight mode and began buzzing lazily around the room, occasionally circling one of the three people in the room. The playful behavior of what was technically a deadly and dangerous weapon of war eventually drew Harry's attention back to the present and he smiled slightly as he watched Wolfstar orbiting around Zechs in an unknowing imitation of stars (or birds) circling around a cartoon character's head indicating the character had been knocked for a loop. The irony of Zechs being completely dazed by what amounted to an information overload only made Harry laugh softly at the imagery.

"Silly, Wolfstar," Harry murmured under his breath as he slowly climbed to his feet and brushed off his pants.

"Are you going to be alright, Taliesin?" Trowa asked as he looked away from the suit's antics to study Harry critically.

"Yeah, I'll be fine; I just wasn't expecting Heero to blindside me like that. I honestly didn't think he'd ever release my oath because I didn't think he'd ever believe I was capable of protecting myself."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I was thinking of maybe getting something for breakfast."

"I meant about Heero releasing you from your oath."

"Oh… there's really nothing I can do; the magic binding me to my oath unraveled and it can't be put back. I suppose I could swear another oath but I'm not inclined to tie myself to another in that way any time soon."

"And what about your relationship with Heero? I seem to recall you mentioning something about a promise to kill him the moment he released you back when we first met."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes before dryly muttering, "I was angry, scared, and hurting when I said that. He's still my brother and the most I'd do is string him upside down and hex him when he acts stupid. And I was only pissed with him earlier because I misunderstood his question and jumped to the wrong conclusions. I suppose I should hunt him down and apologize for automatically thinking the worst because I should have known better than to think that he'd make me do something like that. Though in my defense I'm not exactly blind and I am fully aware that all five of you have been concerned about what happened during the battle when I flew Wolfstar."

"Can you blame us for being concerned? We all experienced our worst fears while under the influence of the Zero System and while I thought you might be able to hold out longer because of that Mind Magic stuff you were working on learning, I never imagined you'd end up taking control of the system instead. Nor did I think you could hold off the hallucinations indefinitely. Wolfstar suddenly gaining a form of sentience out of the deal is a whole nother can of worms entirely."

Harry couldn't help but snicker over the comment about Wolfstar as the suit in question finally returned to his side, reverted to suit mode, and settled down to sit on Harry's left shoulder. He only started laughing harder when Trowa rolled his eyes and shook his head. After a while, Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face before he smiled at his brother and turned to leave the room only to be brought up short by a Zechs addressing him.

"You lied to me."

Turning around, Harry arched an eyebrow at the man, silently demanding clarification. Zechs pushed up out of his seat but didn't move any closer as he frowned at Harry.

"I asked you for your real name and you told me that you never knew your name; you lied to me."

"I didn't lie; there was a time I didn't know my name. I just didn't tell you the full truth," Harry retorted as he crossed his arms and stubbornly lifted his chin. "I was nothing more than your prisoner at the time and I was not stupid enough to give you anything that could be used against me or my family. Besides… what difference does knowing my name really make? Taliesin Bard is just as much my name as Harry Potter; only it's a name I chose myself to represent the life I'd made here with my family."

"Okay, I deserved that," Zechs admitted with a grimace. "It's just annoying to find out that I can't really trust much of anything you've told me because if you could twist the truth about your name you could have twisted the truth about anything and everything else."

"In the game of life; honesty is one of four aces you are dealt," Harry philosophically stated with a careless shrug of his shoulders that nearly knocked Wolfstar off his perch.

"And the other three aces?"

"Common sense, luck, and attitude."

"I thought luck was the queen of hearts?"

"Nope; luck and ladies don't mix," Harry quipped sagely.

"Don't let Cathy hear you say that," Trowa warned with a snort as he walked passed Harry and left the room, leaving Harry and Zechs to deal with their issues in relative privacy now that he knew Harry was feeling more himself.

"How can I prove to you that I don't wish you any harm?" Zechs asked softly as he held Harry's gaze.

Tilting his head to one side, Harry narrowed his eyes slightly as he gave the question due consideration; if only because he could read the desperation and sincerity on the man's face. After a moment, he closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face before threading his fingers through his hair as he debated with himself. He then bit his lip as he opened his eyes to study Zechs once more while fingering the hidden leather cord that held the four trunks that had been Sirius's final gifts to him with his other hand.

"Are you willing to risk the possibility that I might learn something of you or your past that could potentially be used against you?" Harry demanded quietly. "And before you answer that; you should know that I have a way to force you to tell the truth, no matter how much you might wish otherwise, for exactly twenty minutes. There will be no chances for evasions, no time to carefully word your replies; you will answer any and every question you are asked with the cold, hard truth the moment you are asked."

"So, basically you are asking me if I trust you enough to allow you to somehow draw the truth from me. Just how many people will be present during the questioning? And are you willing to offer me the same chance in return?"

"I suppose that's one way of putting it… and it would just be me. I'll even conduct the questioning in a place that I can guarantee has no security cameras and where there is no chance of anyone disturbing us. As for giving you a chance to question me in return using a similar method; it would depend on what I learn from you."

"Say I agree to this questioning… wouldn't you be worried that I might just be using this as an opportunity to get you alone?"

"The thought did cross my mind when I was considering whether or not it would be worth the risk of actually giving you a chance to prove yourself. However, do you recall what you told me about the isolated rooms you locked me after you'd caught me?"

"Which bit?"

"The part about the security of the rooms being so tight that you and you alone were the only one able to enter the rooms or allow anyone else to enter the rooms? Well, the place I have in mind has similar protections on it that make it so I am the only one who can get in or out of them and if you attack me while we're inside you'd have no hope of ever getting out. And I'll also be bringing along a bodyguard in the form of a snake or two."

"Ah… one last question… if I allow you this opportunity are you going to purposefully dig for any skeletons in my closet or can I trust you to keep your questions focused on what you think you need to know so I can prove that I am not seeking to harm you?"

"I have no desire to dig into your past or draw forth a full list of your sins," Harry dryly countered with a slight shudder of distaste. "I'll stick to asking you questions about your intentions towards me and my brothers as well as a few about some of the things you've said and done to us. I'll even provide a list of say no more than thirty or forty questions that I intend to ask and you can veto up to five if you feel some of them are too invasive."

"In that case, I will agree to allow you to question me."

Harry nodded sharply and headed out of the room, calling back over his shoulder, "I have a list of questions to write, a brother I need to have a serious discussion with, a potion to dig out, an antidote to hunt down (in case the potion poisons you because you have no magic), and an interrogation chamber to set up. I'll come find you when I'm ready to start."

Stepping through the door, Harry practically tripped over Duo, who was leaning against the wall with his laptop in hand; the long haired teen having been watching the video feed from the security camera inside of the conference room. Harry rolled his eyes and mock glared at the taller teen over his glasses before heading off towards the kitchen to get something to eat. Duo quickly snapped his laptop shut and fell into step beside him.

"Ya sure ya know what your doin', Taliesin?"

"No… I'm not entirely certain I really want to know the answers to the questions I would like to ask him. On the other hand, the man knows far too damn much about me and my abilities; so not getting those same answers might yet see me strapped to an operating table in some lab some day in the future."

"So why couldn't ya have at least allowed one of us ta be there with ya when ya question him?"

"Trust… he is trusting me not to exploit him during those twenty minutes where he will basically be at my mercy as far as my questioning goes so the least I can do is show him that I'm willing to trust him just enough to be alone with him to get my answers. Besides, it's not as if I'm going to be defenseless; I'll take Seth and a viper or a couple asps with me if Seth is still gallivanting about the desert."

"The others aren't gonna be all that happy. I'm not exactly all that happy; even if I do understand your reasonin'."

"I'll be alone with him for maybe forty minutes max; ten minutes to get him ready, twenty minutes to question him, and ten minutes to make certain the Veritaserum is cleared from his system and that the potion isn't going to kill him. If we don't return by then you know something went wrong."

"And what about da bit where ya practically agreed ta allow him ta question ya in return?"

"I didn't promise… I simply said it would depend upon his answers and I'd want a chance to veto a few questions of his before he actually asks them."

"Hnn… What exactly is it you're gonna do ta make him tell da truth?"

"I'm going to administer the most powerful truth serum I have on hand. All it takes is three little drops and for twenty minutes he'll answer any question he is asked with nothing but the truth. The only potential flaw is that the potion doesn't differentiate between the actual truth and what one believes is the truth so there is some room for error if you aren't careful with how you word your questions. One of the reasons I need to think about the questions I want to ask him before I actually ask them to him."

"I hope ya at least plan ta allow us ta help ya put together da list of questions ya plan ta ask."

"As if you or any of the others would allow anything less," Harry deadpanned.

"Just makin' sure we're on da same page, kiddo."

"Yeah, yeah… you wouldn't happen to know where Heero snuck off to, would you?"

"I might… ya aren't gonna do anything drastic, now are ya?"

"No. I just need to talk to him."

"In that case, he's in da underground hanger tinkerin' with his Gundam."

"Thank you, Duo," Harry murmured as he pulled away from the taller teen and headed towards the nearest door leading out into the courtyard and the shortest path to the underground hanger; all thoughts of food vanishing as he focused on the upcoming discussion he needed to have with his honorary brother.

Harry found Heero perched on Wing's torso surrounded by an assortment of system boards, wires, and tools working on upgrading the Gundam's internal computers. Now that he'd found the brother who'd once been his bane, Harry felt uncertainty well up inside of him and his feet froze as he studied Heero's back as the teen worked. Twice he opened his mouth to address the other teen and twice he shut it without saying a word. There was so much that they needed to talk about though and so after ten long minutes of hemming and hawing, Harry squared his shoulders and strode up to the suit.

"We need to talk."

"I'm busy," Heero called back without looking at Harry.

"Heero, please?"

Heero's answer was to drop down inside of the cockpit and Harry felt a stab of pain in his heart followed by a flash of irritation. Leaning against Wing, Harry took a few calming breaths as he tried to think of a reason why Heero would be avoiding him all of a sudden (aside from the earlier misunderstanding). Biting back a scream of frustration, Harry kicked Wing before turning to walk away, his shoulders slumping dejectedly as he headed back towards the exit.

He was halfway there when he stopped and glanced back towards where he'd last seen the other teen and allowed his memories from the past twelve months to play through his mind. Narrowing his eyes, Harry stubbornly set his chin as he weighed his current options for dealing with his brother while recalling the number of times that Heero had been rather persistent in confronting Harry.

"I'll give you a choice, Heero," Harry called out as he came to a decision. "You can willingly get your ass down here so we can talk or I can come up there, hex the snot out of you, and then haul you down here so we can talk. I'll give you one minute to decide and then I'm going to make the choice for you."

"I'll take the choice where you walk away."

"Damn it, Heero; why are you being a jerk!?"

"In case you forgot, you once swore you'd kill me the first chance you got the day I freed you from your oath and I'd really like to live a little longer. I don't have a death wish, you know."

"Oh for the love of Merlin's hairy nipples," Harry cursed as he pulled out his wand. "_Accio idiot brother!_"

Heero yelped as he was forcefully pulled from the cockpit of his Gundam. Harry ended the summoning charm when Heero was just a few feet away and immediately cast the levitation charm before Heero dropped to the ground as he turned and walked out the door, his brother floating haphazardly along several feet behind him. As he stomped along, Harry groused under his breath.

"Stupid idiot… think he'd know the difference between lashing out angrily in fear and simply wanting to talk. But no… he's completely forgotten everything that happened between that day and now as if none of it ever happened. Won't even give me a damn chance to apologize for jumping to conclusions earlier and then just ups and disappears after dropping a virtual bomb on me; never once even considering the repercussions of a released oath. I ought to hex him six ways from Sunday till he can't sit down for a month of Sundays."

"Put me down!"

"Shut up! I don't have to listen to you anymore. I ain't gonna put you down until I'm damn good and ready to."

When he'd traveled quite a ways out into the desert, where he'd have plenty of room to hex his brother (should things regress to that point) without worrying about hitting anyone or anything else, Harry dropped Heero onto the sand, wrapped his feet up using an incarceration hex, and pushed him back down onto the sand the moment the pilot attempted to leave. He then dropped down beside his self-claimed brother and socked him rather hard on the shoulder in irritation when the blue eyed teen tried to get up and leave again. They sat there in silence for several minutes before Harry finally addressed Heero without looking at the teen.

"You do know that it wasn't my oath that made me consider you my brother, don't you? You didn't order me to change how I saw you and you sure as shit didn't order me to stop resenting you. I really thought you knew that; hell we even talked about it that first day Zechs dragged you into the secure room where he was keeping me isolated."

"You have no idea how intimidating it is when you are in a true rage and your magic is out of control," Heero stated before he sighed and dropped back so he was propped on his elbows as he stared up at the cloudless blue sky. "Having had that rage directed at me on more than one occasion isn't an easy thing to forget either."

"I'm sorry," Harry meekly offered as he set Wolfstar down on the sand to explore and then wrapped his arms around his knees. "I should have known you well enough to know you'd not intended what your question implied or at least asked for clarification instead of flying off the handle. I was… I was an idiot and feeling Wolfstar's fear as he understood exactly what your question implied because I'd been thinking about what it would mean if I was forced to reverse what happened. You know, I actually considered destroying Wolfstar when I first learned I'd brought him to life but the thought of feeling him die through the connection I have with Zero made me sick. Especially after I'd realized that he'd become of an extension of me through my magic."

"No different than how I overreacted that day I made you swear your oath. Harry… my freeing you the way I did isn't… it didn't hurt you, did it? I never even thought to ask you what would happen when I finally released you from your oath."

"No, it didn't hurt me but it was so unexpected and the feeling of the magic unraveling so suddenly was a bit of a shock. You know I never really thought you'd ever release me from that stupid oath because I never thought you'd think me capable of protecting myself; despite the fact that you'd promised just that the day you'd offered me a choice between being an unwilling guest and being a student of sorts to all five of you. It's going to be odd for a while without it too; simply because that oath has saved me from doing something stupid a time or two."

"Have you really forgiven me for what happened that day?" Heero asked after a few minutes as they both watched Wolfstar cavorting about chasing a butterfly. "I know you said you didn't hate me when we talked about it briefly the day you began drawing the blood to ward Wolfstar but…"

Harry cut the blue eyed teen off before he could finish, "Yeah, I did; a long time ago. I knew I'd forgiven you the moment you had Wing pluck me from the sky the night I escaped from the Luxembourg Castle. Just like I realized that I never really hated you the day you'd been set on blowing up Wing with you still inside. It was during the time I spent with Trowa at the circus I finally admitted to myself that you weren't the only one to make mistakes those first few days after I dragged you in off the beach."

Harry released Heero from his bindings at that point and the two of them wrestled for a bit before they played a game of tag with Wolfstar, Harry cheating by freeing his wings to give him an advantage. When the sun and the heat got to be too much, the two of them headed back to the house to get lunch (both of them having missed breakfast) and Harry filled Heero in on the agreement he'd made with Zechs.

Heero predictably had the same concerns and asked pretty much the same questions that Duo had earlier and Harry gave him the same answers in return. After lunch, Heero, Duo, and Trowa all sat down with Harry to help him write up a list of questions to ask Zechs while Quatre went to deal with running his family's business and Wufei returned to working on Dragonstar.

* * *

Harry passed Wolfstar to Heero, softly ordering the sentient suit to stay with the teen (not wanting to risk the suit's shrunken state destabilizing the charms on his library trunk). The suit crossed its arms and pouted but Harry simply admonished him to behave while hiding the slight amusement he felt over the suit acting like the child he had compared him to just a couple of days earlier. Harry then gathered up the rucksack that held everything he thought he might need, including one of the two venomous snakes that would be acting as his bodyguards for the duration of the interrogation.

Stepping up to the trunk he'd chosen to use for the questioning (the others holding stuff he'd rather not show Zechs before he knew if he could trust the man or not), Harry opened the lid and held it in place as he glanced at the man in question and drawled, "After you."

Zechs took a deep breath and nodded as he stepped forward and climbed down into the trunk. Harry waited for him to get several steps down before he glanced at his brothers one more time and followed the man down into the trunk. Harry soon caught up to Zechs at the bottom of the stairs where the man had stopped to stare around at the sheer number of books filling the numerous shelves. Harry cleared his throat and gestured towards the folding table and chairs that he had set up in the small open area near the stairs (having pulled them from his supplies in his storage trunk). Sitting on top of the table was a full tea service that Harry had prepared and brought down earlier so he wouldn't needlessly clutter up his hands when entering the trunk with Zechs.

Once Zechs was seated, Harry pulled a red spitting cobra (a yearling male he'd named Anubis) out of his bag and settled the snake on the table just off to the side of the chair he'd be sitting in. The snake hissed and flared its hood for a moment before it docilely curled up with its nose pointed towards Zechs. The twenty-year old showed great restraint in not flinching over the antics of the snake (the man long used to Seth's presence after four months spent around the darker, older cobra).

Harry's second bodyguard made itself known at that point as a triangular tan and brown head slipped out from beneath his shirt and slipped around so that it was draped over both of Harry's shoulders. This one was an older female European viper, her thick body colored a light tan with a wide, medium brown zigzag stripe that ran down her back from the back of her head all the way to the tip of her tail. She was one of the few that Harry had not named.

Bodyguards accounted for, Harry next pulled out a bottle of water, a thick roll of blank parchment held in a wooden dispenser, a quill that was charmed to write down everything said within ten feet of it once activated (and preloaded with enough ink to write forty-thousand words according to the box Harry got it from), a small vial holding what looked like water, a wafer thin slice of stone, a potions encyclopedia, and a hand written list of about forty questions. Harry arranged those items on the table in front of his seat, hung the now empty rucksack over the back of his chair, and cleared his throat a second time before he began speaking.

"The small bottle you see in front of you contains a potion called Veritaserum; it is one of the most powerful truth serums ever created. Three drops of this potion, or one dose, is enough to make a grown man speak the truth for up to twenty minutes depending on his age, weight, height, and the size of his magical core. According to my potions encyclopedia you should suffer no ill effects from ingesting the potion even though you have no magic (that I'm aware of) though the period of time the drug is active may last slightly longer. The small bit of what looks like stone beside it is a slice of bezoar; in the event that the truth serum does make you sick it will prevent you from dying of poisoning once you swallow it. If you wish to read the entry about Veritaserum from my encyclopedia I brought it with me and have the page in question bookmarked."

"I might be interested in reading it another time," Zechs stated as he eyed the rather thick and heavy looking tome. "Can you tell me what side effects I can expect to experience from the serum?"

"Slight disorientation when you first take it, a sense of detachment once it starts working, and once it runs its course a feeling of nausea that should quickly pass. It will also numb your emotions and affect your speech in that you will slur some of your words."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Here is the list of questions that my brothers and I came up with, please take a few minutes to read through them and let me know if any of them make you feel uneasy."

"Is there a reason why you are asking me my name? And why are you asking about the mask?" Zechs asked after quickly skimming through the list.

"The first question is just to ascertain that the potion is working," Harry replied as he worked on setting up the parchment and quill that would be recording the interrogation and as such missed the grimace and slightly worried look that passed across the man's face. "As for the mask… I want to know for personal reasons due to past experiences from before I ever saw you that first time. I don't plan on analyzing your reasons I just wish to hear why you always wore it."

"I see. Then I guess I have no problem with any of the questions you wish to ask."

"Do you have any questions before we start?"

"No."

"Okay. The potion is both odorless and tasteless and while it can be administered directly it is recommended to take it mixed in with a beverage to help reduce the sensation of disorientation you'll feel once it hits your stomach. Taking it with something else also should help reduce the nausea you can expect to feel once the potion has run its course," Harry stated as he gestured to the tea pot and the bottled water. "I wasn't certain what you'd prefer to drink so I brought water and made tea earlier."

"Tea will be fine."

Harry nodded and set about pouring an inch of tea into one of the three tea cups sitting on the tray and poured himself a full cup. He asked Zechs if he wished for milk or sugar (neither) before preparing his own tea the way he preferred it. Next he carefully added three moderately sized drops of Veritaserum into Zechs' cup and stirred it with a spoon before placing the cup on a saucer and passing it to the man. Harry then checked to make certain the quill was working as intended (it was) and sat down at last after accepting the list of questions back from Zechs.

"Please drink every drop in the cup. If you wish for more tea when we are finished I brought a spare cup so you don't have to worry about any residue left behind from the serum. It will take approximately one minute for the potion to begin acting."

Zechs swirled the cup for a moment before he lifted it and drank the laced tea in one gulp before setting the cup down on the saucer and moving it so Harry could see that it was now empty. Harry took a drink of his tea and ran a finger down Anubis's back while he waited for the serum to start taking effect. He knew the instant it did as Zechs raised a hand up to hold his head, as if he'd just experienced a dizzy spell or a headache and a glance down at the watch on his wrist indicated that the requisite minute had indeed passed.

"One minute has now passed since Zechs ingested the Veritaserum," Harry dictated to the quill before he addressed Zechs. "Are you feeling any ill-effects from the potion other than those that were expected?"

"No."

"Then I will now begin asking the agreed upon questions. What is your name?"

"Milliardo Peacecraft."

Harry sucked in a sharp breath at the unexpected answer and he floundered for a few seconds before asking a question that wasn't originally on his list. "Who is Zechs Merquise?"

"I am Zechs Merquise."

"Did you give yourself the name Zechs Merquise to hide your real name?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that was unexpected," Harry stated as he took another drink of his tea, crossed his legs, settled back in his seat, and returned to the agreed upon questions. "Do have any intention of harming me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I do not believe children should be harmed."

"Have you ever, at any time, intended to do me any harm?"

"Yes."

"When did you wish me harm and why?"

"It was before I knew you were just a child. I wished to defeat you in battle which probably would have ended with your death," Zechs replied with a slight slur as he slouched a bit in his chair.

"Do you have any intention of harming the five teens I call my brothers; the teens who are also known as the Gundam Pilots and the Star Pilots?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I know how important they are to you, I have no wish to cause you pain, and they are but children themselves."

Again Harry was caught slightly off guard by the answer but he shrugged the mild shock aside as he continued on with the next question on the list, "Have you ever intended on harming any of my brothers?"

"Yes."

"When did you wish them harm and why?"

"When the Gundams first arrived on Earth I was ordered to capture or kill them to prevent them from interfering in OZ's plans to overthrow the United Earth Sphere Alliance. At the time I had not known that the pilots of the Gundams were just children."

"Why did you go to the trouble of making me your ward?"

"I believed that you needed someone to take care of you and protect you from yourself.

"What is it that you want from me?"

"Respect, acceptance, trust, and for you to accept me as a father figure."

"What do you want from those I call my brothers?" Harry demanded as he tried desperately to ignore the answer to the previous question he'd asked.

"I want the relationship that they share with you."

This time Harry couldn't ignore the answer as he stared at Zechs, the memory of the jealously he'd thought he'd detected from Zechs the day he brought Heero to his room during his isolation flittering through his mind. A half a minute passed in complete silence as Harry lifted his cup to take a drink of tea only to be forced to set it back down right away as he nearly spilled it all over his lap because his hands were shaking so bad. Wanting to change the subject, Harry moved onto the questions he had about Zechs' behavior during the ambush along the decoy transport routes and his two month of imprisonment in Treize's Luxembourg castle.

"Why did you single out the Gundam Wing during the ambush that OZ had set up to capture the Gundams?"

"Gundam Wing was considered the second most dangerous of the five Gundams and I was ordered to detain you to prevent you from attacking the true transport once you learned that both of the scheduled transports were decoys. I also wanted to battle you in a suit that was better matched to see who the better pilot was."

"Why did you force a one on one fight with just swords that day?"

"An aerial battle in the Tallgeese would have killed me due to the flaws in the suit and I wished to see how skilled you were in sword fighting. I would have preferred to fight you face to face with nothing but blades but at the time did not believe you would take such a risk."

"Did you know that Lady Une was going to take the Colonies out in space hostage in order to make the Gundam Pilots surrender?"

"No."

"When Treize first had me kidnapped from the circus after the private show we put on at his castle, why did you constantly try to get me to agree to cooperate with Treize?"

"As part of the agreement I made with Treize for his help to obtain custody of you once we'd found you, I agreed to do everything necessary to get you to cooperate with Treize. We assumed that because you appeared to be nothing more than a child that you would quickly fold under pressure and give us what we wanted freely without resorting to torturing you because we didn't think your body or mind would handle the pain."

"What exactly was it that Treize wanted from me?"

"Information on the Gundams that were sent to Earth; why they were sent, who had sent them, what they were sent to do, who was ordering them to attack the targets they did, and a list of weaknesses that could be exploited on all five of the suits."

"Whose idea was it to kidnap and threaten Trowa and Cathy to make me cooperate with Treize?"

"Treize's; because he thought they could be used as leverage to gain your cooperation and because he believed that Trowa was another Gundam Pilot."

"If he thought Trowa was one of the pilots; why did he agree to let him go?" Harry asked as he once again deviated from the written questions.

"He used your demand for their freedom to have Trowa followed in the hopes that he'd lead us to one of the Gundam Suits and so he could have him recaptured and taken to another location without your knowledge. The man that was sent to trail Trowa disappeared just hours after he left the circus the same afternoon that he was released and all subsequent trackers found no trace of the teen. The two men we had watching the young woman disappeared a week later while they were trailing her in the hopes that she would lead us to one of the Gundams."

The next handful of questions dealt with the night Lady Une visited Harry in his cell and his voice shook slightly as he asked Zechs if he knew what Lady Une had planned to do that night, if he had allowed or encouraged her to carry out what she had planned, and if Zechs had ever considered doing something similar in order to break Harry's spirit. Harry breathed a bit easier when Zechs replied negatively to all of those questions as the fear that Zechs had been a part of what happened that night was laid to rest. Harry then moved onto the questions dealing with the four months he'd spent as Zechs' unwilling guest slash prisoner on the Lunar Base.

When he reached the questions surrounding Zechs' decisions to disobey direct orders from his superiors, Harry hesitated again as he instinctively knew that those questions would further alter the way he viewed Zechs. If he didn't ask them though he knew he would constantly wonder over Zechs' motives and so he took a deep breath, mustered his Gryffindor courage, and once more dove back in feet first.

"Why did you refuse to send my brothers to Earth when ordered?"

"I did not believe that they deserved to be executed and I knew that if I allowed them to be killed you would hate me more than you already did. I did not wish for you to be hurt."

"Why did you refuse to send me to Earth as ordered?"

"At the time I received the orders I'd just figured out that the weapon you used to disable the Wing Zero Gundam was actually an ability that you alone possessed and not an actual weapon that anyone could operate. I also learned that you were afraid that you would be brainwashed into fighting for OZ, used to father an untold number of children, or that you would be experimented on. OZ would have made your fears reality and I could not allow them to harm you. I'd also promised you that I would not allow that to happen before I ever received those orders."

"Why did you allow the guards to beat you the day you were arrested instead of answering their questions?"

"Honor; I had no desire to sell another out just to save myself. And because I wanted to protect you from those that wished you harm."

"Why did you follow me back to Earth instead of staying in space with the soldiers that followed you?"

"Since the day I stood over your broken body you have been a mystery that I needed to solve and the more I learned about you the more I found you teaching me about myself. You touched a part of my heart that I once thought was long dead and I did not wish to lose it again. I also felt that I owed you and Heero a debt after learning that it was the two of you who saved my little sister's life during an assassination attempt."

"Huh, who'd have thought? Small world," Harry mused as he immediately realized Zechs was speaking of Relena Darlian. He finished off the last of his tea to wet his throat and noted that he only had about five minutes left before the truth serum was due to wear off before returning to the list of questions, "What do you plan on doing with the information you have about my abilities?"

"Nothing."

"Have you told anyone else what you have learned about my abilities?"

"No."

"Do you plan on telling anyone else about my abilities?"

"No."

"Are you considering turning me over to OZ now that you are aware that the abilities I have stem from my magic and allow me to do far more than you ever imagined?"

"No."

"Does the fact that I have magic bother you in any way?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Knowing that what I had mistakenly thought were simple Talents actually stem from what you call your magic does not really change who you are or what you have come to mean to me."

"Do you have any intention of kidnapping or attacking me now or in the future?"

"No."

"Do you have any intention of turning in or attacking any of my brothers, now or in the future, now that you know where we are based out of on Earth?"

"No."

"Why did you always hide your face behind a mask?"

"I put on the mask to hide my face from those who would recognize me and to hide my emotions on the battlefield because I was ashamed of myself for abandoning the beliefs of my family."

"The truth serum should wear off in another minute, are you feeling at all sick to your stomach?"

"No."

"Would you like something more to drink to help flush the potion from your system faster?"

"Yes."

"Tea or water?"

"Tea."

Harry moved the cup he'd used to administer the potion to Zechs and placed it upside down on the tea tray before pouring the man a fresh cup of tea. Once he passed the man the new cup, he addressed him one last time.

"Please let me know when you feel the potion wear off; you may still feel slight sense of nausea and should feel clarity coming back to your mind. Feel free to help yourself to more tea if you are still thirsty when you finish what you have."

Standing up, Harry headed for the stairs to let his brothers know they were almost finished and that there had been no problems during the interview. Once he'd done that, Harry returned to the trunk floor but instead of sitting back at the table, he collected Anubis and absently browsed through the nearest shelves of books as everything he'd learned swirled endlessly through his mind. He never really noticed the passing of time and eventually stopped walking altogether as he just stared at the shelf in front of him without actually seeing it. He would have never known that Zechs was trying to get his attention if not for the red snake coiled around his wrist and arm.

'_The other two-legged one is making noises at you, nest-brother,_' Anubis declared as he lifted himself up and bumped his nose against Harry's to get his attention.

Harry blinked down at the snake before glancing over his shoulder to see Zechs half standing as if he'd been considering walking over to him in order to get his attention. Sighing, Harry absently thanked the snake and scratched him beneath the chin as he slowly made his way across the room to the table. A glance at his watch let him know that thirteen minutes had passed since he last checked the time and he was glad he'd given his brothers an update before he'd spaced out; otherwise they might have gotten cranky because he was now officially running over the estimated forty minutes he'd thought it would take.

"Are you feeling sick at all? Headache? Stomach pain? Unexplained lethargy?"

"No, I feel fine now."

"Okay," Harry murmured as he reached over and lifted the quill from the parchment to end the enchantment that kept it writing. Harry then tore the used parchment from the dispenser and waved it through the air a couple of times to make certain that the ink was dry before passing it to Zechs. "Please read through your answers and let me know if there is anything there that you'd rather I not share with my brothers."

While Zechs did that, Harry mechanically began packing away the extra parchment, the quill, the encyclopedia, the left over Veritaserum, the bezoar, and the unopened bottle of water. He then stacked up the dirtied cups and saucers to give his hands something to do while he was waiting for Zechs to finish.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't mention my real name, the information that I have a sister, and my reasons for wearing the mask."

Harry considered his request for a brief moment before he put his hand out for the parchment and took out his wand. He then cast one of the few spells that were safe to use inside of the trunks because the amount of magic powering the spell was so small he might as well not be using any magic at all. Pressing his wand tip to the parchment over the three sections that Zechs wished not to share, Harry siphoned off the ink; removing the words completely. When he finished, he silently passed it back to Zechs who glanced at the three sections in question before thanking him and passing it back.

At that point, Harry silently led the way back up to the room above as he curled the long strip of parchment into a roll. Once he stepped out, he held the lid open so that Zechs could exit as well. Harry then used one spell to clean up the written dialogue and another to affix the roll to a wooden rod so it wouldn't get damaged. He unrolled the scroll and noted that there were no longer any spaces revealing that sections had been removed before he rolled it back up and handed it over to Heero without a word. Ordeal over, Harry collected Wolfstar, slipped from the room, and headed towards the snake rooms so he could return his two bodyguards and summon them their proffered rewards for helping him.

The moment he was finished taking care of the snakes, Harry returned to his bedroom to grab his Firebolt. Not bothering to walk all the way downstairs, Harry opened his window, climbed up onto the sill, straddled his broom, and flew out of his room. Wolfstar quickly shifted into flight mode and took up a position just behind Harry as he leaned low over the broom and pushed the broom as fast as it would go as he headed straight out into the desert; doing his best to outrun his confusion. He kept right on going, taking care to edge around any cities or villages he came across out of habit, until he reached the Persian Gulf. Harry then turned south to follow the coast around passed the Gulf of Oman to the Arabian Sea until that turned into the Gulf of Aden which he followed to the Red Sea as he turned back north.

It took him a little over three full days, traveling at just over one hundred and fifty-miles per hour, to travel over approximately three quarters of the Arabian Peninsula's coastline before he finally turned inland and made his way back to the Winner Estate. He had never even noticed the rising and setting sun or the scenery passing below him during that time; his mind focused completely inwards as he struggled to accept what he'd learned. Wolfstar paced him nearly the entire time (only parking itself on the broom in front of Harry once after the first thirty-six hours when it needed about six hours to recharge), the suit reveling in the long flight as it had been rather cooped up since it had awoken towards the end of the Battle for the Moon.

When he finally landed in the courtyard he was hit with a wave of exhaustion and hunger and he nearly fell flat on his face four or five times while making his way towards the house. He was met at the door by a concerned Quatre (who'd felt him growing closer over the past couple of hours) and helped up to his room where he immediately passed out. He slept for eighteen hours straight, his mind for once blessedly empty. When he woke up he took a long, hot shower before applying some of the healing cream to his wind chapped and lightly sunburnt face and left hand.

The moment he returned to his room he found all five of his brothers seated around a fold out table eating a light supper with an extra chair and place setting waiting for him. As he slid into his seat, Harry half expected the five teens to yell at him for taking off like he did but they simply asked him if he was feeling any better. When he learned just how long he'd been gone, Harry even more surprised that they weren't threatening to chain him to his bed for the next five years.

Quatre, upon noticing his anxiety and confusion, explained that while they had been worried they knew that Harry could take care of himself and that he'd needed the time and space to deal with everything he'd learned. That made Harry realize that his brothers had actually stopped seeing him as the child he still resembled and had begun thinking of him as the young adult he actually was. He acknowledged his change in status by apologizing for worrying them and going on to promise to make a conscious effort to not take off without having a way to stay in contact again.

The talk then turned to the current political climate on Earth, news from space for the past few days, and what the six of them (and the pilots that followed them) would be doing. During the rest of the evening, Zechs and the information they had learned was not mentioned once; though that information was not far from the minds of all of those present. After his five brothers had bid him goodnight around midnight, Harry crawled back into bed and slept for another five hours before he headed outside to the courtyard to stretch and work through his katas for a couple of hours to work out his slightly stiff muscles.

He then began the tedious process of creating an amplifier for Wolfstar that would not harm the sentient suit and still provide Harry with a way to use his magic while piloting the suit. Part of the problem was the way the cockpit was set up, with the interface butting right up against the front of the chest almost half inside of the large green dome on the outside with the door opening off to the left of the dome. That firmly put the interface between Harry and the one place on the suit where the amplifier would be the most effective. When Harry couldn't figure out a viable solution on his own, he took the problem to his brothers and it was Duo that suggested using mirrors to route his spells through an alternate path; much like a telescope or a microscope.

The idea had merit except mirrors tended to weaken and disperse the magic in the spell, making the spell far less effective. Combining the idea behind using the mirrors to bounce the magic along an alternate path with using a series of smaller amplifiers however would negate the lost power and actually reduce the amount of magic Harry would have to expend to use the main amplifier since the smaller amplifiers would require far less magic to fully charge them and ultimately double the amount of magic they passed onto the next one in the series. Duo helped him build the casing for the amplifiers while Harry tested various gems in order to determine which ones would give him the best results.

He ended up using a mixed assortment of gemstone-rods an eighth of an inch in diameter etched lengthwise with seven 'v' shaped groves all the way around the circumference and bound into bundles. Each bundle had a single diamond rod in the very center surrounded by three emerald rods separated from each other by three amber rods. Outside of the amber and emerald ring was a ring of alternating ruby and sapphire rods, six of each. Diamond slivers were then tucked into the gaps all of the inner stones and in the gaps between the rubies and sapphires to give the appearance that the entire bundle was one large rod with different colors shot through it. When fully assembled the rods were just under three quarters of an inch in diameter and about three inches long.

The receiving end of each rod (the side that would sit facing Harry's wand) was cut so that the spell would hit a flat surface at a ninety degree angle (or perpendicular to the rod's surface). The opposite end, on the other hand, was cut so that it came to a point that was angled towards the next amplifier in order to concentrate the magic into the smallest possible beam. The bundles were then bent at the exact center using magic so that they would fit into the Gundanium Spell Router (Duo's name for the contraption) at the proper angle to move the magic through the tube without it hitting the sides as they flowed through the straight sections of the tubes.

The mirrors being used to bounce the magic through the needed angles to traverse the path the spell would take were then fixed to the point where the bundled rods were bent after that side of the rod was shaved flat so the mirror would lay flush against the rod and prevent the magic in the spells sent through the amplifiers from being scattered by an uneven surface. There were a total of three angles and five rod bundles involved; one bundle butting up against a miniature diamond amplifier that in turn butted up against the wand tip, one for each angle in the tube, and one butting up against the external amplifier. The numbers involved were all based up magical primes to increase the effectiveness of the amplifiers and stabilize the entire set up.

The diamond that would have direct contact with Harry's wand was cut much like a cone with the wide base of the cone completely flat and the angled sides cut so that it had one hundred and twenty facets all precisely placed to form a starburst when viewed from the flat side of the cone. The tip of the cone had been cut off and a hole for the wand tip bored into the resulting flat surface so that the smallest point of the cone was one thirtieth of an inch larger than the diameter of Harry's wand tip and snugly held the tip so that there were no gaps.

The external amplifier looked similar to the one on Dogstar, though it was far larger and made up of seven diamonds cut and set to give it the appearance of a single gemstone (five to represent the points and two shaped like the two halves of the yin-yang symbol for the center). The huge amplifier was integrated into the green dome on Wolfstar's chest and sat fairly close to the Zero interface module. The Gundanium setting holding the diamonds in place was far smaller so as to increase the surface of the diamond that was in direct contact with the suit. The final rod bundle fit into the bored out tip of the giant amplifier like a sharpened pencil pushed into a piece of wet clay.

The two most difficult parts of creating the entire system were creating the rod bundles and etching all of the protective and enhancement runes over every inch of the finished product. Installing the system to Wolfstar was even more difficult as the suit hadn't really liked having its insides messed with and it had absolutely hated having the external amplifier being integrated into the green dome. Once the system was in place though, Wolfstar greatly admired the pretty star on his chest (vain suit that he was) and he practically purred when Harry began testing the effectiveness of the amplifier from inside the cockpit.

It didn't take him long to discover that the magic he sent through the Spell Router was being unexpectedly augmented by the magic that filled the suit while the excess magic that normally would have been lost from the system was in return absorbed by the suit which meant there was no power lost either from the suit or the spell being fired. After the amplifier had been installed, the only upgrades that remained were the additional weapons that Harry had asked Duo to help him make (modeled after the weapons the long haired teen had designed and created for Dogstar), the compartments in which the new weapons would be stored, installing a bathroom, and a new paint-job.

That included another set of twelve throwing knives, a pair of beam rifles that were smaller and less powerful than the custom twin buster rifle, and a third beam sword that looked like an extra-large version of Gryffindor's sword. The twin blades that the suit was originally equipped with were further modified so that they could be combined into a double bladed staff like Dogstar's twin swords. The mock Gryffindor sword, on the other hand, was designed to be used with the pile-driver shield that Harry couldn't just discard because it was part of the suit and necessary for Wolfstar's to transform into flight mode (even though he disliked fighting with the shield).

The storage for the weapons was pretty much in the same location as they were on Dogstar, with the knives split between the inner arms and legs, the twin beam swords on the outside of the arms, and the beam rifles stored on either hip. The custom twin buster rifle was stored on Wolfstar's back between the 'wings' that housed his thrusters and the broadsword was sheathed in a compartment on inside of Wolfstar's shield just beside the hand grip of the shield where it would be within easy reach.

Additionally the machine cannons that were mounted within the clavicle sections of Wolfstar were modified so that the ammunition caches for each canon held three times the normal amount of rounds allowing him to last longer during a fight. The same thing was done for the Vulcan missile launchers that were mounted behind the wing binders and were solely intended for use when fighting in the suit's fighter mode. (Similar modifications would be made to the original Gundam's weapons now that Harry was no longer quite so skittish about the fact that the suits were designed as war machines.)

Unsurprisingly, Harry chose to paint Wolfstar in shades of gray, silver, white, black, and gold-brown to give him the appearance of a wolf. The base coat, like the original six Star Suits, was black except for the wings which were painted white. The feet, ankles, hands, and lower arms were painted white with silver, gray, and brown-gold highlights that gave the suit the appearance of fur like socks. The rest of the body was drawn over with fine lines of dark gray, dark silver, and dark gold-brown to continue giving the impression that the suit was covered in fur. Highlights on the wings were done in pale silver to give them the impression of being made up of feathers instead of fur or metal.

All of the optic sensors and external lights were done in amber and the shield was painted to look like the top view of a snarling wolf face complete with laid back ears, angry amber eyes, and razor sharp canines (that had been added to the sides of the shield). All of the weapons were done in gunmetal grey with gold and white lines to given them definition. Overall the new paint-job gave the sentient suit a feral look that matched its name (both the one Harry had given to the suit and the title that had been given to them both by those that had witnessed the suit's performance at the Battle for the Moon).

About the time that Harry was starting Wolfstar's custom paint-job, Wufei and Heero began training those pilots that had been born and raised in space lessons on the differences between flying a suit in space and flying a suit on Earth. Trowa split his time between caring for the still unconscious Une and upgrading the suits they'd brought with them from space. Duo split his time between helping Trowa upgrade the other suits and helping to train the pilots with Wufei and Heero. Quatre helped watch over Une, ran the Winner Corporation (with the help of several of his sisters and his father from space), and ordered parts and supplies as needed (which included helping Harry restock his larder).

Hilde spent quite a bit of her time working on the Taurus suits as she'd obtained a solid understanding of the suits (and by extension the mobile dolls) during her time as a soldier of OZ under Lady Une. And Zechs helped Wufei and Heero monitor the rumors and news flying about Earth and the Colonies and watched Harry from afar. Zechs had originally wanted to continue shadowing Harry but Heero and Trowa (the two who knew Harry best) had talked him into giving Harry space and time in order to come to terms with everything he'd learned about the older man.

Additionally, the five Gundam pilots started holding what basically amounted to war councils with key individuals that were working for their cause, including; Rashid and Abdul (representing the Maganacs), Zayeed (representing the small rebel faction that had stayed on the satellite), Zechs (representing the former OZ soldiers that had followed him), and Captain Trant Clark (representing the Loyalist Faction). Harry would have sat in on those meetings as well but he had more than enough to occupy his mind and hands at the moment and knew that his brothers would pass along any important information.

It was collectively decided that their group would not pick sides in the three basic factions that were currently fighting on Earth (the Romefeller OZ faction, the Treize OZ Faction, and the Alliance Rebels) and would instead focus on protecting the innocents and the smaller kingdoms that were being trampled all over by the other three. Their reasoning behind their decision was quite simple; the Romefeller Foundation wished to experiment on and exploit Harry in addition to killing the five Gundam pilots, Treize had personally made an enemy of Harry and all five pilots, and the former Alliance had made their feelings regarding Harry perfectly clear.

Zechs, once considered a close friend of Treize, had surprisingly not tried to talk them into joining the Treize faction. When asked why, Zechs admitted that he'd stopped seeing eye to eye with the man and his methods sometime during the time he'd spent on the moon; specifically the four months during which Harry had been in his custody (this was after he'd already been questioning the man's decisions and actions after the destruction of Luxembourg Castle). He didn't think his one time friend was evil but he did think that Treize went about accomplishing his goals the wrong way; something he had not realized until after he met Harry.

There was just something about Harry that made people stop and take notice of him (without him even trying) and his views and beliefs (while seemingly naïve and childish) reflected a combination of true innocence and cold cynicism that shouldn't have been possible. That he retained a shred of innocence in light of everything he'd experienced in his lifetime (relatively short though it was) was a miracle in and of itself. In a way, he represented balance; a theme that he projected mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and magically and that was reflected in his actions and beliefs.

An example of that balance was his desire to avoid any senseless killing (regardless of whose side those dying would be on) and his willingness to kill in order to protect the lives of as many people as he could (most especially those that he considered his family). Another poignant example would be his utter loathing for Une and what she represented to him and his inability to leave the wounded woman to her fate the day he destroyed the base.

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**AN:** _Another long chapter with lots of info, some action, and clarification on some of the actions taken by various characters earlier in the story. I'm not certain I'm happy with the way the interrogation turned out and I'm certain that I forgot a few important questions that should have been asked but it's far better than the original draft. Anyway, the next chapter will show how the other pilots react to seeing Wolfstar's new improved look, Zechs will get a few answers of his own, and we'll have a small glimpse of what is going on with the rest of the world. _

_The last thing I want to do is thank all of my readers and reviewers… I know I've been lax on replying to reviews again but I've been a bit swamped with writing, editing, answering PMs and e-mails when I can, and gearing up for the holidays. I do appreciate all of the wonderful reviews that have been left and if I didn't reply to yours, I apologize; I am not intentionally ignoring you. ~ Jenn_

**12-18-12:** _Corrected a minor grammatical error in the second half of the chapter.__  
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	33. A Well Oiled Machine

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 32: A Well Oiled Machine

Once Harry was ready to unveil the new and improved Wolfstar, Harry talked his brothers into pulling off their first large-scale theft for the first time since Heero and Trowa had been caught trying to steal the battleship from OZ (not counting the theft of the Gundams during the escape from the Lunar Base). They ended up stealing a couple hundred mobile dolls from OZ to use in the demonstration. The only reason they went along with the plan was because Harry had recently finished designing a temporary ward (something he'd been researching for months) that could be used to protect a suit from his magic so they wouldn't have to replace the internal circuitry when he shrunk them (meaning they wouldn't have to repair hundreds of dolls).

Heero and Wufei decided that all of the former space pilots needed to attend the demonstration so that they could see what _not_ to do when piloting a suit inside of the Earth's atmosphere. So Harry created a large warded arena in the desert with the help of the Maganacs to use as a testing ground for Wolfstar and set up protective seating for those who wished to watch. Trowa would be programming the dolls for the demonstration and Duo had drawn the short straw to be the one pilot to ride inside of Wolfstar. Quatre and all of the Maganacs planned on attending the unveiling as well; with Hilde and Zechs tagging along for good measure. Cathy, on the other hand, had chosen to stay behind (for her health and sanity as well as to watch over the still unconscious Une).

Once everything was ready and those who would be watching were safely seated, Harry walked out onto the small podium he'd created and began the demonstration with the unveiling of Wolfstar's new looks. Duo let out a loud whoop and grinned manically as he tugged on his braid in excitement (the long haired pilot one of the few that enjoyed Harry's reckless flying). Harry's other four brothers all breathed sighs of relief after they got a clear view at Wolfstar's new look (which no one had seen before hand due to Harry painting him it in secret), thankful that they would not be the ones playing guinea pig for that first test flight. Hilde, who'd flown into battle with Harry in Wolfstar before, gave Duo a look that said he was nuts for wanting to fly with Harry.

Harry then asked if anyone else felt brave enough to go for a ride and Harry's brothers all tensed when Zechs volunteered; the five of them worrying how Harry would react to the man's presence after pretty much avoiding him for nearly two weeks straight. They were all a bit surprised (even Zechs) when Harry simply shrugged and accepted as he turned and climbed up into the cockpit as Duo and Zechs scrambled after him.

As the first two people (aside from Harry) to step inside Wolfstar's cockpit after he'd gained a form of life, Duo and Zechs were gob smacked by the fact that Harry was simply standing beside the seat and verbally running through the pre-flight checks while Wolfstar did all of the work. It really brought home the fact that Wolfstar was no ordinary suit and that it now had a mind of its own; whereas before it was easy to think it was a trick Harry had been playing on everyone.

Harry absently told them to strap themselves in while he continued to walk Wolfstar through a proper pre-flight check of all systems. When they finished, Harry gave a slow, mischievous grin to his two passengers that was near feral before he slipped into the pilot's chair and Duo let out a soft, gleeful giggle before he could completely smother it while Zechs almost looked like he regretted volunteering to ride along. Wolfstar seemed to bounce excitedly as Harry calmly took control of the suit and ran the suit through a few simply maneuvers for the audience (including juggling Wolfstar's new knives).

Once that was done Harry switched over to flight mode and kept the first flight tame as he fully opened the connection to the Zero interface to allow the exchange of information and magic to begin. He then slowly worked his way up to a few of the fancier, more daring moves as he became comfortable with the symbiotic relationship he now shared with Wolfstar and tested the limits that gravity exerted upon the suit.

After he finished showing off (Duo and Zechs both feeling a bit queasy now – despite the fact that Duo, at least, was enjoying the ride) Harry gave Trowa the signal to start the battle as he transformed back into suit mode and hung Wolfstar's shield on the back over the custom buster rifles and pulled out the twin beam swords. Harry had grown far more comfortable wielding the dual blades during the four months he'd spent as Zechs' prisoner out in space as he'd had quite a bit of free time and frequently practiced using both wooden practice swords.

The next thirty minutes left everyone watching speechless (and his passengers stunned and sick to their stomachs) as Harry completely decimated the two hundred plus stolen dolls with nothing but the beam swords. It was an up close and personal glimpse of what the Battle for the Moon had been like only taken two levels higher as the final enchantments and upgrades had greatly improved Wolfstar's capabilities as did the use of the familiar weapons (having mainly used Zero's custom buster rifles during the fight on the moon). And other than limiting the fire power (so as not to hurt anyone) and avoiding using his magic, Harry didn't hold back once while at the same time he didn't actually push the suit to his limits.

When the demonstration was over, Wolfstar stood in the center of the arena surrounded by a circle of scrap metal that was nearly two feet high and five feet thick as he'd not moved more than five feet in any direction from where he'd landed at the start of the battle. A pin drop could have been heard as the smoke cleared to reveal a completely unharmed and untouched Wolfstar calmly standing with his swords hanging from his hands at his sides with their tips nearly brushing the ground.

"What a good boy you are, Wolfstar," Harry praised as he muted the connection to Zero and patted the interface before he climbed out of the chair to glance at his passengers; noting how green in the face Zechs looked while Duo was grinning like a loon. The wizard then addressed Zechs, "The door is open and right in front of you if you feel the need to empty your stomach; Wolfstar will not thank you if you mess up his heart by puking on the floor."

Duo laughed over the comment before he unbuckled his seat belt and dashed out of the cockpit so he could go brag to the others about what they missed while Zechs simply sat where he was with his head in his hands.

"Tell me, Taliesin," Zechs rasped a few minutes later as he peered up at Harry over his hands. "Did you purposefully torture your brother just for the chance to torture me?"

"Nope… I kept the ride tame compared to what I usually do when I'm alone in the cockpit and in case you weren't paying attention, Duo was laughing and cackling like mad the entire time," Harry countered truthfully with a shrug. "I also couldn't use some of my best tricks because gravity pulls too much on the suit."

"I'm surprised all three of us weren't bleeding from the ears and nose as our insides were pulverized from the speeds you were pulling from the suit."

"In a normal suit we'd have been killed within the first fifteen minutes; but all of the Star Suits are warded to protect the pilots and their passengers in addition to allowing a talented pilot to push the suits to their absolute limits. I still say my brothers would do far better than I ever could in any suit bar Wolfstar if they didn't hold back so much. Wolfstar is in a class all by himself though."

"Aside from the nausea and the fear inducing ride, I have to say Wolfstar is very impressive," Zechs finally stated as he took a good look around the cockpit.

"Wolfstar appreciates the praise; if I hadn't asked him not to reveal himself to those watching I think he'd be skipping and bouncing with sheer happiness right now. And no, I'm not being facetious. He loves being praised and craves attention. He loved every minute of the demonstration and is slightly sad that it didn't last longer and that he really couldn't go all out."

"Tali," Zechs started to say only to drift off before he finished as he glanced down at his hands. He then sighed and ran one hand over his face before glancing up once more to look Harry in the eye and asking, "When are we going to talk? I mean, I don't even know what name you prefer to be called."

"It doesn't really matter what you call me; I will answer to both Harry and Taliesin though I'm far more used to hearing people call me Taliesin right now because I've been using that name for over eight months and prior to that I'd gone two years without hearing another speak my name," Harry replied with another shrug. "As for your question… I… give me a few minutes."

Harry turned away from Zechs and addressed Wolfstar briefly, asking the suit to show him where his brothers were and what they were doing. Wufei and Quatre were still sitting up in the stands answering questions for those who had not left after the demonstration was over, Trowa was talking on the phone and watching Wolfstar from down around Wolfstar's feet, Duo (still grinning widely) was talking with Hilde (undoubtedly comparing notes on Wolfstar's performance) and Harry briefly wondered if his brother had a crush on the young woman (because he often sought her out), and Heero was climbing up the side of Wolfstar and nearly at the open cockpit door. Harry grinned, thanked Wolfstar, and stepped around to the door and peered over the side just as the top of Heero's came level with the bottom edge of the door.

"Hi, Heero, What'd you think of Wolfstar's performance?"

"Jesus, Taliesin, don't do that!" Heero gasped as he jumped in shock and nearly dropped backwards; the teen not having expected Harry to pop out like that. After a few seconds, the blue eyed teen peered into the cockpit at Zechs before addressing Harry, "What are you doing anyway? And Wolfstar looked great; as expected."

"Hear that, boy? My brother knew you'd be great," Harry called over his shoulder to the sentient suit, whose display screens all went a pink-reddish color; the suit's equivalent of a blush. "Ah, Heero, you embarrassed him."

Heero stared at the colored screens in surprise for a moment before he half smiled and shook his head a bit as he met Harry's amused mismatched gaze a moment later and asked, "Are you coming down now?"

"Actually, I was thinking of giving Wolfstar a chance to stretch his wings," Harry answered quietly as he glanced away from Heero to look at Zechs who was splitting his attention between Wolfstar's screens and the two teens at the door. Wolfstar's reaction to that comment was to throw up map after map of earth laced over with red lines; a clear indication that the suit wished to explore the world around them. "As you can see, he's eager to get out and see the sights. I've kept him pretty cooped up since we arrived and he deserves a reward for putting up with all of the adjustments and modifications I made to him."

"I see. Exactly how long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Don't know… Zechs? How long before you'd be missed?"

"You're taking him with you?" Heero asked in shock that was mirrored on Zechs' face as the older man had been thinking that Harry was looking to avoid him even longer.

"We have unfinished business," Harry replied simply as he turned to study the floor beneath his feet as if he'd just found the most interesting thing in the world before glancing back up as he continued. "The trip doesn't even have to be strictly pleasure either; Wolfstar and I can do some scouting and send information back to you guys. I established a secure, closed connection between my laptop and Wolfstar's brain and I can leave the laptop with you so we can keep in touch with you. Just don't connect it to any external networks because Wolfstar hasn't had his shots yet and I don't want to risk him catching a virus. I've got an external drive that you can download stuff onto but you'd need my password to transfer anything to the laptop."

"I'm not even going to ask," Heero muttered in response to Harry's odd turns of phrase as he accepted the laptop Harry had turned and snagged from the pilot's seat where it had been strapped to the side during the course of the demonstration. "We do need to start getting a better idea of what is happening and Zechs has a wealth of knowledge on where all of the bases for the three sides are… and a number of people have been getting antsy because we don't seem to be doing anything."

"If we are turning this into a business trip, so to speak," Zechs interjected. "Then I have as much time as you need since I'd be considered your co-pilot or rather partner for the mission by those under my command. My men can also help organize and execute any raids or evacuations using whatever information we gather."

"I can accept that," Heero stated with a nod.

"Then you could probably expect us to be gone for a week or two at least," Harry calmly declared. "Wolfstar will need a quick check up, extra ammunition in the event we run into trouble, and his storage cupboards stocked with the usual basics for recon missions. Zechs and I will also need to pack but we could probably be ready to leave within an hour or two."

"I can see to it Wolfstar is taken care of to save you some time," Heero offered.

"That would be fine, he'll fly you to the hanger (just sit in one of the passenger's seat) and when you get there ask him what he needs and he'll print you off a list. Make certain you pack the extra munitions in the storage box on the floor beneath the passenger seats (I placed extra wards on it to prevent anything from setting them off); Wolfstar can show you which one if you are uncertain."

Heero nodded and scrambled up into the cockpit to get out of the way, allowing Harry to simply jump out while Zechs followed him down using the hand and footholds. Harry shared a few words with Trowa about what was happening before he trotted off towards the mansion; slowing down when he crossed paths with Haddock, Brian, and Takoda and the four of them spent the rest of the walk catching up since Harry hadn't spent much time with them since they'd returned to Earth.

An hour and a half later, Harry strapped himself into the passenger seat beside Zechs as Wolfstar switched to fighter mode and lifted off. Harry then turned to face the slightly older man as the sentient suit simply rose to cruising altitude and dashed off at top speeds in order to just fly for the first few hours (Harry asking Wolfstar to hold off on the flashy moves and tricks for the moment). The plan was to let the suit burn off some of its excess energy as it circled the earth around the equator while Harry and Zechs had their much needed discussion.

"Where did you wish to start?" Harry inquired.

"Did you find the answers you were looking for?" Zechs asked after a moment.

"I found answers… don't know if they were the ones I was looking for or not. They sure as shit weren't the ones I was expecting. It is nice though, to not have to constantly be on my guard whenever you enter a room all the while wondering when the axe is going to fall."

"But…?"

"I can't just give you what you said you wanted from me. Respect is meant to be earned, I'm not certain I could ever completely trust you (though I don't exactly mistrust you any longer), and I can't just flip a switch and automatically accept you after everything that you've done. There may come a day when I might forgive you for what you'd done to me but I don't know if I will ever forgive you for what you threatened to do and did or had done to my brothers to get what you wanted from me. I can say without a doubt I will never forget any of it."

"I also can't give you the relationship that you've been looking for from me, I meant what I said; I don't need or want another father figure in my life," Harry continued bluntly as he steadily held Zechs' gaze. "I've been taking care of myself to a degree since I was about four years old and I'm not about to just forget or set aside my hard won independence in order to subject myself to someone else's rules. I was forced to do that once already and you can bet your arse I'm not in any hurry to do it again."

Harry turned away from Zechs at that point, his mismatched eyes scanning through the various reports and pictures that Wolfstar was collecting on his monitors as the suit constantly scanned everything all around him as he flew over the earth at unbelievable speeds. He knew he'd basically just given the twenty year old a virtual punch in the gut and hadn't exactly enjoyed trampling all over his feelings like that but Harry was not going to sugarcoat things or string the man along with false hopes. After making certain Wolfstar was both doing just fine and enjoying himself, Harry turned his gaze down to the floor so that he could watch Zechs from the corner of his eye as he began speaking once more.

"That said… I am relived to know that you do not wish me or my brothers any harm. I appreciate the fact that you sought to protect me even if I didn't particularly care for the methods you used or the lengths to which you allowed your obsession to drive you; deny it all you want but you stalked me for months. It makes it a bit easier to tolerate your presence knowing that you had no part in Une's attempt to break me and that you would never have resorted to such disgusting methods in order to force me to do what you wanted me to. I saw that first hand during the four months I was your prisoner on the moon but the fear that you would have at some point was always lurking in the back of my mind until you answered my questions under the influence of the truth serum."

"You have no idea how much I wanted to keep on hating you and that damnable mask you always wore. I really didn't want to believe that you could ever change or that you were not the monster the mask made you appear to be. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have no idea what to think or feel in regards to you any more because nothing is as it was and I don't know which way is up anymore. I know exactly what I don't want but I can't imagine where things could possibly go from this point forward."

"You don't believe in mincing words, do you?" Zechs asked softly in a slightly pained voice.

"One thing I've come to value above all else is honesty," Harry explained as he once more turned to face the man. "I may twist and stretch the truth, omit a few pertinent facts, and tell a fib every now and then but on the whole I make an effort to never lie; especially to myself and those I've come to see as my family. I am bitterly aware of just how much pain dishonesty and betrayal can inflict upon a person's soul; regardless of which side of the lie they are sitting on."

"Yet you seem to have no problem accepting the fact that I basically lied to you about my name."

"It's a pleasure meeting you, kettle," Harry quipped dryly with a soft laugh. "My name is caldron but you can call me black if you like. In case you haven't noticed; my brothers and I have on more than one occasion casually drawn names out of a hat when we didn't wish to give out our actual name."

"I was shocked that you didn't dig deeper into my reasons behind hiding my true name; especially after I made such a big deal about finding out you'd lied to me about your real name. You had me in a position where I would have told you anything."

"Like I told you when I first asked you if you were willing to subject yourself to the truth serum; I had no desire to dig into your past any more than I needed to in order to know whether or not I needed to be concerned with you intending to cause harm to me or my brothers. I was caught off guard but in the long run your name and the reasons behind what you call yourself are of little consequence to me. I also understood your reasons for not wishing the information regarding your sister to be bandied about carelessly. Although, speaking of your sister; does she even know she has a brother? She never even mentioned having an older brother, though if you two are hiding your relationship it would make sense for her not to bring you up; even without using your name."

"No… she doesn't know. We were separated shortly after she was born when our family was slaughtered and she was adopted by the Darlians. I'd believed her dead for the longest time until I stumbled across her one day and thought I'd seen a ghost because she is practically the spitting image of our dead mother. I never told her because at the time she was far too young and I was a soldier. I continue to keep it secret because I have no wish for her to come to harm because of the things I have done in the name of revenge."

"Yet you wished to take me under your wing as your adopted son?" Harry scathingly demanded. "Did you ever once think that she might have appreciated knowing she wasn't alone after she'd witnessed her adopted father being murdered right before her eyes? What about protecting her from those that were trying to assassinate her? Can you not see the hypocrisy in chasing after me to protect me (not that I needed it) and at the same time ignoring your own flesh and blood because you felt she'd shun you for the choices you'd made?"

"I selfishly thought she'd never need or want me in her life," Zechs admitted as he swallowed thickly at the sharp barbs Harry had just thrown at him. "I didn't leave her completely helpless though; I asked Lucrezia to watch over her for me not long after you escaped from the castle when I'd chosen to search for you alone. I'd trust Lucrezia with my life and therefore knew I could trust her to watch over Relena for me."

"If you were my brother I'd hex you from here to the moon and back for pulling such a stunt and then I'd box your ears for good measure before making certain you never disappeared again," Harry muttered as he shook his head and unbuckled his harness.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the bathroom."

"Don't you have to have Wolfstar set down for that?"

"No… all I have to do is open the door."

"You aren't worried about falling out?"

"No… the bathroom is just as secure as the rest of the cockpit," Harry dryly stated as he opened a rather well hidden door just to the side of the two passenger seats and vanished into the magically installed bathroom leaving a gob smacked Zechs to stare after him.

When Harry came back out several minutes later, Zechs commented, "You certainly enjoying shocking and confusing people on a near constant basis don't you?"

"I have to keep myself entertained somehow," Harry quipped with a smug grin.

The next few hours passed in near companionable silence as Harry spent the time in the pilot's seat interacting with Wolfstar in order to monitor his systems and make certain everything was functioning as it should while leaving the suit in complete control. Harry even allowed Wolfstar to do a few barrel rolls, loop-de-loops, and corkscrews (after making certain Zechs was belted in) so that the suit could play a bit; wouldn't do to allow the hyperactive, childlike machine to get bored after all. Occasionally, Zechs would ask a question about something that Wolfstar would flash across the screens or about the various changes Harry had integrated into the suit.

After that, Harry had Wolfstar alter their course slightly, moving down to circle the globe below the equator for a while to give the suit (which was traveling fast enough that it had already circled the Earth twice) something new to explore. Harry then introduced Zechs to the trunk that held his larder so they could grab lunch. Having no real idea as to what the man did and didn't like as far as food went; it was easiest to let him pick out something and since Quatre had helped Harry replenish his stores when they first returned to Earth there was still a wide selection of food to choose from.

Harry chose a ready-made single serving shepherd's pie that was part of his original stores along with a ready-made salad. Zechs made himself a chicken sandwich after getting over the shock of finding what amounted to an entire supermarket packed into what looked like an ordinary trunk; the library in a trunk had been a bigger shock but Zechs hadn't really given any thought to the incongruent dimensions since he'd been far more concerned about the quasi interrogation and the results of said interrogation to think about how thousands of books plus the furniture fit into such a small case.

After their meal, the two of them talked about everything but the elephant in the room, focusing more on simply getting to know a little bit about each other; something Harry had never allowed previously. They eventually moved onto discussing their mission parameters and potential targets to scout for when Wolfstar had finished his avid exploration of the Earth. This included Zechs filling Harry in on some of the decisions that had been made during the various meetings that Harry had avoided while working on his suit.

Harry ended up making a couple of pit-stops to pick up a dozen laptops (he missed his since he'd given to it to Heero and figured having a few extras on hand wouldn't hurt), hunt down a boatload of maps, rescue a couple of large pythons from a shoddy pet store, and purchase souvenirs from a few of the places he'd always wanted to visit as a child.

At the twelve hour mark (on their forth time circling the earth, having moved up to the northern hemisphere – though they completely avoided even flying over any portions of the British Isles), Harry contacted his brothers to let them know that he and Zechs hadn't killed each other. He also let them know that Wolfstar had almost finished his sightseeing, that he'd be dropping off a package in a day or two for Beauty (containing the newly rescued snakes) and another package containing the extra laptops, and that they would be ready to start shunting information to them in about twenty-four hours (Harry would need time to sleep and all of the new laptops needed to be warded). Harry then allowed Zechs to pass along additional orders to his men through his brothers before they closed the connection for the time being.

While Harry took the first shift sleeping (since there was only one bed) he left Zechs with a few books on magical history and theory to keep him occupied and out of trouble. Harry had then curled up on the bed and drifted off to sleep knowing that Wolfstar or Zechs would wake him up if they ran into any trouble. It would be the first time that Harry ever slept peacefully (when not driven to exhaustion or overwhelmed with pain) in the older man's presence. The reason for that mostly revolving around the fact that Harry had let go of any fear he'd once felt around Zechs with the help of the Veritaserum assisted interview.

Eight hours later, when the two switched places, Harry moved the new laptops into his library trunk before slipping off to his supply trunk to draw the blood necessary to ward the twelve machines. He thankfully didn't need anywhere near as much as he'd have needed to do another suit and after taking a single dose of blood replenishing potion, he was taking his living sacrifice to the library trunk where he'd do the initial warding so that Zechs wouldn't happen to learn exactly how the wards worked (Harry didn't quite trust the man that much). Harry also made a mental note to set up a potions lab once he returned to the estate in order to start replacing the potions he'd used the most of (such as the general healing potions, blood replenishing potions, pain potions, and Pepper-Up potion).

When Zechs finally rejoined the land of the living, it was to find that Harry had had Wolfstar land at some point and the wizard had set up camp in the middle of a forest. Dropping down out of the suit, the former OZ soldier was presented with the odd sight of Harry sitting in the middle of a circle of laptops that he was trying to simultaneously program. Occasionally, Harry would bring out his wand to cast a series of spells on one laptop or another as he reached a preset point in the installation and upgrade process using a step by step guide that was known only to himself.

The moment Harry noticed him, he pointed over his shoulder to where a box of food had been brought up out of the larder so they wouldn't have to keep making trips into the trunk to grab a meal, "Help yourself if you're hungry; I'm right in the middle of tweaking these piles of junk and Wolfstar is recharging after his second ever extended non-stop flight, so we'll be here for a while yet. Whatever you do, don't leave the clearing or you'll be locked outside of the camp until I can bring you back in; which might be a while if I lose track of time."

"Anything I can do to help?" Zechs asked in response as he ignored the comment about being locked out of camp (the older man figuring it had something to do with magic).

"Not at the moment; once I get the laptops fully operational I could use a bit of help installing what I've taken to calling Duo's Chaos in a Box; the Deluxe Software Package for the Amateur Hacker. The firewalls will also need to be set up but that can wait until I'm ready to link them into Wolfstar's systems and he'll help me set them up simultaneously instead of having to do them one at a time."

"How long have you been working on those?"

"I started the moment you took your turn sleeping but most of the time was spent actually warding them against my magic. I didn't start upgrading them and installing the operating systems until about an hour ago, after spending about an hour securing our temporary camp. I've got another hour or two until I'm finished and then I'll need to sleep for at least another four hours before I can even think about installing the peripheral equipment such as the external mouse, printer, and web cam, loading the various software programs, and copying the files and data from the laptop I left with Heero."

"Well, let me know when you need help."

"Mmhmm," Harry hummed as he focused once more on what he was doing.

Three hours later, Harry was sprawled belly down across Wolfstar's right hand unconsciously shifting his freed wings every few minutes as the light breeze filtering through the trees ruffled his feather-like scales; sleeping. Across the clearing, Zechs split his attention between watching Harry and putting together a list of questions he wished to ask the teen (half hoping that the wizard would agree to take the truth serum).

It wasn't until the two of them were back up in the air in Wolfstar six hours later that Zechs silently passed Harry the list of questions he'd put together (the twenty year old a little worried he might have been left behind if he'd given them to him while they were still on the ground). Harry had given him a confused look when he first accepted the folded piece of paper but it quickly morphed into a calculating look after he'd read through the first two questions on the list.

"Ah… a not so subtle request that I subject myself to a willing interrogation," Harry mused as he finished reading through the list. "I take it you'd prefer that I also use the Veritaserum?"

"I did ask you if you'd be willing to reciprocate when you'd first asked me if I'd be willing to subject myself to your drug assisted interrogation. If I recall correctly, you didn't actually say you wouldn't even if you didn't say you would either."

"And what do you intend to do with the information you gain?"

"Nothing… it's more that I want to know the answers to those questions to satisfy my own curiosity and to clear up a few mysteries that have been bothering me."

"Well, I suppose turn about is fair play in this instance though I'm going to refuse to answer those questions regarding certain events that happened in my past and a few of those pertaining to the protections on the suits. It's also not going to be possible for me to take the truth serum as it won't last more than five minutes due to my magic filtering the potion out of my system. There is another method I can use that will pretty much guarantee that I am telling the truth and since some of the questions you have here will require lengthy answers I'll give you one full hour."

"That is more than acceptable and more than I expected."

"In that case," Harry stated as he stood up and pulled out his wand, holding it tip pointed upwards and parallel to his body in front of his heart as he swore his second ever oath. "I, Harry James Potter, do hereby swear on my magic that I will answer any reasonable question, bar those I deem too personal, asked of me by the man known as Zechs Merquise over the course of the next sixty minutes as truthfully as possible based upon what I know or believe is the truth as of this point in time. So mote it be."

"What just happened?"

"I gave you a magical oath to answer your questions truthfully and should I knowingly lie I will be stripped of my magic and could quite possibly die but I don't plan on lying just to find out."

"That… you do realize your brothers will kill me if they find out what you just did, right?"

"No they won't, they'll be mad at me for taking such a risk but it was ultimately my choice to swear the oath. You might want to start asking the questions on your list now because time is ticking and I won't swear the oath a second time if the hour runs out before you're finished."

And so for the next fifty-eight and a half minutes, Harry answered question after question starting with Zechs confirming his name and age. The man went on to ask Harry when and where he was born, if he had any blood relatives alive, and why he looked barely twelve years old if he was nearly eighteen. He then moved onto the questions about how and when Harry met and joined the Gundam pilots, if he had been involved in the disappearance of the two Gundams off the coast of Japan, and all about the time he'd spent in Japan.

The next topic revolved around the ambush OZ had set up for the Gundams and the part Harry had played before, during, and after that short battle before detonating the Gundam. Zechs was surprised to learn that the Gundam had not actually been destroyed but didn't waste time asking about how that was possible since by that time more than half of his allotted hour had already passed. Another fifteen minutes were spent on why Harry was traveling with the circus, how he'd healed so fast after being severely injured at the ambush (and later after he'd been shot while breaking into the Lunar Base), if the tricks he performed in the act he took part in were real or just magical illusions, and how he controlled the snakes.

The final thirteen minutes then covered some of the things that had happened during the two months he'd spent in Treize's castle; why the tranquilizers didn't work, what had actually happened to the men Une had brought to his cell, and how Harry had escaped that night. Harry also answered the question of where his wings had come from, how old he'd been when he first killed someone, and why Zechs' mask had bothered him so much. The last question Harry answered, that Zechs snuck in at the last second, was whether or not Harry actually hated him. Overall, it was a very informative hour for Zechs and he'd learned quite a bit more than he expected to, even if Harry had refused to answer several questions about his past.

It also allowed Zechs a measure of hope for the future in regards to eventually forging some kind of relationship with Harry since Harry admitted that he no longer actually hated him. It would not be the father-son relationship he'd originally wanted but there was at least a chance for them to one day be friends instead of just passing acquaintances or mere co-workers. Not long after the impromptu interrogation, they took a one hour side trip to deliver the snakes to the Winner Estate along with six of the now competed laptops (with Harry keeping the five extras in Wolfstar after giving one to Zechs) and took back his original laptop from Heero.

The next seventeen days saw Harry and Zechs gradually becoming an effective spy team as they infiltrated various bases, safe houses, and the occasional network in order to gather information. Harry ended up creating a fifth magically enhanced trunk (created out of his old Hogwarts' trunk) to add to his other four; the new one an elaborate traveling command center. Two walls were covered with the hundreds of maps Harry had gathered; each of them dotted with marks that represented various bases of the three factions and covered with sticky notes listing each base's manpower, defenses, armaments, and other pertinent information.

There were two long tables set up along the shorter of the two walls and covered with reference books, piles of detailed notes, various print outs, hundreds of photos, and several other odds and ends. Directly opposite of the tables, was a pair of wrap around work stations; one for Zechs and one for Harry. Zechs' workstation was relatively bare with just the one laptop, a printer, and a few office supplies neatly tucked away. Harry's workstation on the other hand was a complete mess.

He had three laptops set up; his old laptop that was his direct connection to Wolfstar, another laptop that he'd picked up and warded separately that was completely independent of Wolfstar (to be used for internet research and what not), and the last laptop to act as an interface between the first two laptops. The set up was meant to provide an extra layer of protection to prevent viruses from getting filtered through to Wolfstar as well as preventing the sentient suit from being hacked into by any one of their enemies. Along with those three devices, Harry had four printers (two black and white laser jets and two color laser jets), several monitors that were linked directly to Wolfstar through Harry's old laptop to allow the suit to communicate with him while he was in the trunk, endless stacks of printer paper and parchment, and a hundred other tools and junk spread all over every bit of the work surface.

Sitting right in front of the second map wall (which ran across what could be considered the back wall of the trunk) was a third workstation set up which held the last four laptops that were connected to Wolfstar. The work station was meant to be used by anyone that joined Harry and Zechs on future missions so that they'd have a place to work without getting in Zechs or Harry's way. Smack dab in the center of the room was a huge, round conference table with a dozen chairs circling it that was currently holding the empty boxes from the newly purchased, warded, and installed printers and stand alone laptop. On the floor beneath the table were four high end desktops that Harry still needed to ward and install (one each for him and Zechs and the other two for the spare work station).

On the final wall, aside from the stair case leading down into the trunk, were six doors; one leading to a kitchen, one to a store room, two opened up into bathrooms, and the last two housed a pair of dorm rooms. An additional two doors on the wall between Harry and Zechs' workstations led to another two bedrooms; one of which was Harry's and the other Zechs'. The last thing Harry had brought into the trunk was a large generator to provide the electricity needed to run the various equipment inside of the trunk; the large machine being tucked beneath the staircase behind stabilizing wards with several magically reinforced fuel tanks to hold the gasoline needed to power the generator.

On the whole, it was the perfect set up so that the two young men could perform their missions effectively and efficiently without having to worry about dealing with the limited space inside of Wolfstar or having their research compromised because of lax security; not that just anyone could sneak into Wolfstar's cockpit. Harry had even keyed Zechs into the wards of the new trunk (but not his original four) and would later add his brothers and a few other select pilots when he was assigned a permanent crew (which would eventually include Haddock, Brian, and Takoda).

By the time their three week long mission assignment was over (the two of them extending their trip a little longer in order to investigate a few rumors), Harry and Zechs had established a working partnership that saw them working together as a well oiled machine. Neither one of them saw the other as either inferior or superior; in their eyes they were equals, which had been odd in the beginning considering the fact that they were so different and due to their rather turbulent interactions in the past. It was a change that had been immediately apparent to everyone that knew both young men. They didn't laugh and joke around like Harry did with his brothers but there was a comfortable companionship between the two of them that had been sorely lacking on the day they left.

"Hey, kiddo!" Duo greeted with a grin as Harry, Wolfstar, and Zechs entered the dining room where the others were having a late brunch. "Good ta see ya both are still in one piece."

"Well, Zechs didn't give me any real reason to hex him," Harry drawled slowly as he pulled out his wand and fingered the handle as he stared at Duo over the top of his glasses. "Unlike some people I could name that still insist on calling me kid."

"Ah-ha… yeah… can't imagine anyone foolish enough ta do something so silly," Duo replied back nervously as he slouched down in his chair and eyed Harry's wand with trepidation.

"I reckon you're right. I can't imagine anyone idiotic enough to call me kid… or kiddo… when they're likely to end up strung up by their feet for an hour or so in retaliation or maybe wake up to find they'd been shaved bald."

"Well don't just stand there, pull up a chair and grab something to eat," Quatre insisted with a smile as Duo paled further and protectively clutched his braid; the blonde having easily picked up on the amused fondness Harry had been radiating over the teasing exchange in place of the annoyed irritation he used to exude when called kid or kiddo.

"How did Wolfstar handle the constant flying?" Trowa asked when he noticed that the sentient suit was clinging to Harry's shoulder like a sleepy toddler would cling to a parent.

"He took to it like a fish to water though he'd needed eight hours or so to recharge every thirty-six to forty-eight hours. He'll need a thorough checkup and standard servicing but that can wait until Monday. I'm also going to have to do something about the wolf obsession he developed shortly after we ran into a pack of eastern timber wolves when we were camped in south eastern Ontario, Canada near the Great Lakes."

"Well, that explains the two gigs of wolf photos that I suddenly found a week ago on the laptop you gave me," Heero quipped with a shake of his head.

"Only two gigs on yours? He completely locked up my original laptop with the sheer volume of images, videos, and audio files he collected from who knows where. I feared at first that he'd picked up some kind of virus," Harry countered with a snort. "It got even worse when we ran into a lone Rocky Mountain wolf while in Alberta two days later; if only because its coloring was similar to Wolfstar's and it actually came right up and climbed over Wolfstar's foot while he was recharging. I swore he tried to catch it at one point so he could bring it with us but the wolf had gotten scared off the moment Wolfstar moved."

Harry's brothers snickered over that as they immediately drew parallels between the suit's desire to bring home a 'puppy' and Harry's large (and still growing) collection of snakes. Harry simply snorted and shook his head as he fell into the seat between Heero and Duo (the latter still eying Harry's wand nervously – he took threats to his hair very seriously) and dished up a plate while Zechs excused himself to rest for a bit. Harry had barely taken his first bite when his brothers began interrogating him on how he'd handled being virtually alone with Zechs for so long and commenting on how well the two had been working together over the last week, week and a half.

Harry answered their questions truthfully and told a few anecdotes about the three week long mission; including mentioning his hour long interrogation in passing though he said nothing about the oath he'd sworn. As he'd predicted his brothers were a touch put out that he hadn't allowed one of them to at least be there to protect his interests but overall they knew it had been Harry's choice. The next couple of hours were spent just catching up with everything that had been happening around the estate, the current status of various missions that Harry and Zechs had gathered the initial intelligence on, and what the schedule for the next seven days or so was looking like.

Harry then slipped off to get a bit of rest himself as it had been well over twenty hours since he last slept; stopping only to look in on his snake friends and see how Beauty was getting along with her younger, smaller companions that Harry had rescued for her. He ended up picking up an additional two passengers. Seth had finally returned from his extended vacation in the desert (it was mating season for most of the snakes after all) and was eager to hang out with Harry once more. Anubis on the other hand was simply bored (the spitting cobra had a very short attention span) and he was eagerly drinking up the stories Seth was weaving about his exploits in space (more than a few of those stories greatly exaggerated).

In his room, Harry soon fell asleep listening to the two snakes hissing from inside of his shirt while Wolfstar was sprawled out on the pillow beside him, recharging.

* * *

After taking a couple days to unwind, Harry began preparing to ward more of the suits; in particular the four Gundams he'd stolen from the Lunar Base and after a few days consideration the Tallgeese as well (though Harry didn't tell Zechs that he was warding the monstrosity of a suit). Before he even considered starting on the suits though, Harry spent two days preparing a potions lab down in the underground hanger (where there was less of a chance of being disturbed during the brewing process). Harry then spent two weeks brewing multiple batches of the various healing potions he'd used up over the three years he'd been in this world (the majority of them over the last year alone).

Trowa and Wufei sometimes joined him when they had the time as they were both curious about the potion making process. As squibs, all five of Harry's self-claimed brothers could help him prepare the ingredients even if they didn't have enough magic to actually brew the potions. Once the potions were finished, Harry began drawing the blood needed; starting with what he'd need to ward the Tallgeese because it was the largest suit and would require even more blood than Wolfstar had needed.

He'd been forced to draw the blood out over a three day period and if Zechs hadn't been sent out on a mission during that time he'd have surely gotten pissed at Harry's brothers once again. Many of the pilots around the base had been concerned once Harry reappeared because they'd never seen Harry looking like death warmed over before. Harry was touched that they cared but annoyed that they seemed to want to coddle him when the blood letting didn't affect him as much as it had in the beginning (though that didn't mean it was ever an easy process).

By the time Zechs returned from his mission, Harry had finished about half of the warding process on the suit (the Maganacs having completed the carving on all five suits while Harry had been brewing potions). His brothers conspired to keep Zechs out of the hanger for another week after that because Harry didn't want the man to see what he was doing to the suit until it was finished. It wasn't just the warding he wanted to be a surprise; Harry intended to customize the suit a bit… giving it a new name and a new paint job on top of the few magical enhancements he had planned.

The day that Harry finally presented the man with the upgraded suit saw Zechs stunned speechless for hours; having never suspected that Harry would be willing to do something so huge for him (and it was a big deal to ward and upgrade each suit). The newly renamed Battlestar (a fitting name considering how at odds Harry was with Zechs for so long) looked just as intimidating as Wolfstar; only, instead of looking feral and animalistic, it was a nightmare straight out of a sci-fi novel.

Harry had left the base color of the suit white and painted a series of half inch thick gold lines that formed a maze of squares and rectangles over the entire suit (all of them with hard angles). He'd then gone back and shaded alongside of the lines with dark grays and blacks to give the suit an appearance of depths. The crest on the helmet of the suit had been changed from red to gold and given a more angular appearance that made it look more like a shark's dorsal fin.

The pattern on the shield and various weapons of the suit deviated slightly; the line designs on them more rounded (not a single sharp angle anywhere on them) and done in silver instead of in gold. The original eagle that had been on the shield was still there, though it was now just a gold outline that seemed to practically jump off the shield. The end result was that the former Tallgeese had taken on the appearance of an actual battleship with cold, hard lines.

The biggest and most important change Harry made to the suit though (aside from protecting it from Harry's magic) was the charms and protective spells that shielded the pilot from the physical stress the suit generated at high speeds. Never again would any pilot of the suit face a painful death if they pushed the suit beyond their limits as a pilot. Zechs was exceedingly grateful and humbled by the gift; and it truly was a gift.

By the second week of June, both the Vayeate and the Mercurius had been given the same treatment (after the inherent flaws that the scientists had built into the two Gundams had been corrected). The Vayeate being renamed Arcticstar and given a dark blue base color with a similar but less symmetrical pattern to the Battlestar done in shades of blue, sea green, and white to give it the appearance of a glacier or an iceberg. The Mercurius on the other hand was renamed Brimstar and given a maroon base color over which was drawn a series of fluid, curvy lines in bright reds, oranges, and yellows that brought to mind molten lava.

The two suits were still complete opposites that complimented each other (Arcticstar remaining an offensive suit and Brimstar still a defensive suit) and intended to be paired together in order to use their full potential. That didn't mean they couldn't be used separately, only that they worked best when used in tandem. Harry, with Duo's help, also added another ten Planet Defensers to Brimstar's arsenal (to fill the holes in the suit's defenses when the Defensers required recharging – allowing the pilot to constantly have ten Defensers active by rotating the devices in groups of five) and added a full twenty to Arcticstar's so that both suits would have adequate shielding during battles.

The last two weeks of June saw the final two Gundams, the recreated Wing II and Heavyarms II, being warded and upgraded further in addition to being renamed and repainted (the latter being done to differentiate the pair from the original two Gundams they'd been modeled after). Wing II became Windstar (because of its flight capabilities) and was painted light blue with white accents and lines of pale gray swirling over the suit to give it the appearance of a cloud. Heavyarms II would gain the name Firestar (an allusion to the firepower it wielded) and was painted in shades of yellow with orange lines giving the impression that it was covered in flames.

Like Brimstar and Arcticstar, Windstar and Firestar were meant to be paired up in order to put their full potential to use; though in this case they were a heavy hitting offensive team that could attack from both above and below (Firestar having been given flight capabilities that would allow it to fight in space). Also like the other set of paired Gundams, the two improved Gundams were given a set of twenty Planet Defensers each that could be stored in hidden compartments on the back of the suit when not in use. Once finished, Windstar and Firestar were given to the Maganac Corps and would end up being piloted by Abdul and Ahmad.

About the time that Harry finished Brimstar, their small force of Freedom Fighters nearly doubled in size as a faction of the Rebel Alliance forces, led by one Major Sally Po, joined them (the rest of the Alliance Rebels being taken over by one of the generals that had been rescued from prison by the Star Pilots). Harry and his brothers had welcomed the twenty-three year old without any hesitation (despite her affiliation with the former Alliance) because they'd recognized her as the major that had helped Trowa and Duo shut down the remote activated self-detonation system on the New Edwards Base a year earlier.

It also helped that her faction had been fighting to protect the people not to promote or reinstate the Alliance in a position of authority. It had been pure chance that a handful of the Freedom Fighters had run into Sally's group during a mission where both groups had targeted the same base. Their group was also garnering plenty attention from the three main factions fighting; the Freedom Fighters having evacuated well over two million civilians from hotspots around the globe, stolen over five billion dollars worth of equipment, and destroyed another ten billion dollars of property and equipment.

Once the world sat up and took notice of their group, the decision was made to bring the original Gundams back into play. Harry, with the help of the Maganacs, snuck in and made a several upgrades to the slightly dusty suits, giving them minor upgrades (which included adding the defensive shock wards, modifying them for use in space in the event they needed to fight amongst the stars again, and enhancing their on-board weapons so they could be loaded with double the amount of ammunition to extend their fighting capabilities like he had with Wolfstar) along with slightly new paint-jobs.

Wing was given an appearance of being covered in feathers, Shenlong got a hint of dragon scales modeled after the Chinese Fireball, Deathscythe looked even more like a shinigami than it had before, Sandrock ended up looking to be made out of rock, and Heavyarms received the fewest changes with a few hard lines to make it look even more intimidating. The remodeling and upgrades were Harry's belated birthday gifts to his brothers as they really hadn't had time to celebrate with everything else that had been going on since they had left the planet to fight OZ in space.

The original six Star Suits along with Arcticstar and Brimstar were given over to the top eight pilots that had followed them from space. Harry's friends Haddock and Brian ended up in the paired Gundams (the two of them working well together), his friend Takoda was given Dogstar after the magic amplifier had been removed (Wolfstar far too jealous of the non-sentient suit for Harry to continue piloting it), and Duo gave Deathstar to Hilde as she proved herself more than capable of handling the former Taurus suit. The other four suits went to three young men and one young woman that Harry had worked with in the past.

All eight of the newly promoted pilots (the magically enhanced suits were all in a class of their own after all) were then assigned to Harry's squad since they'd worked with the wizard previously (bar Hilde) and would be easy to integrate into the team that Harry and Zechs had formed. The eight pilots were introduced to magic, Harry's wings, and the real Wolfstar once they had been assigned to his squad.

He hadn't done it sooner because there hadn't really been a reason (other than his growing friendship with a few of them which eventually would have seen him telling revealing himself to them) but he felt it important they learn about him and Wolfstar the moment they became part of his official squad because he didn't want there to be anything creating a potential problem while they were out on a mission. The eight young men and women took the revelations in stride to Harry's relief and they were quickly integrated into the team over the course of a few simple missions where Harry helped them to learn the intricacies of piloting the magically enhanced suits.

Around the fifth of July, rumors of the Sanc Kingdom rising again as a pacifist nation under the leadership of Relena Peacecraft reached the Freedom Fighters. Harry had given Zechs a pointed look when they first learned that Relena had returned to Earth (about the same time as Harry's new squad was formed) which prompted the man into swallowing his pride and revealing his relationship to the young princess when he requested that the Freedom Fighters consider helping to defend the small nation. A delegation, consisting of Zechs, Harry's squad, Heero, and Quatre were sent to speak with Relena who greeted them warmly as she immediately recognized Heero. There was a tense moment when she learned that Black wasn't Heero's real last name (not that Yuy was either) but it didn't last long.

When she asked after 'James Black' after meeting 'Taliesin Bard' whom she noted looked a lot like James, Harry gave her the story they'd created to account for his changes. The story had James Black actually being James Bard, Taliesin's younger brother, who had died as the result of the injuries he'd sustained in trying to escape from OZ when he was kidnapped. Relena was saddened by the tale but it was far safer for her to think 'James' had died than for her to know that Harry was James given how different he looked now (too many people already aware of that information as it was).

Though, if she ever managed to catch Heero's eye (as she still seemed determined to do since her crush had only deepened over the intervening months of separation) there was a chance that she'd eventually learn the truth. For the moment, Heero seemed oblivious; which was the only reason Zechs didn't go all big-brother on the pilot.

Relena's response to Zechs admitting that he was her older brother was quite amusing for Harry as she'd slapped him for not letting her know sooner and for not being there when she needed him most. She then hugged him and confessed that she'd known about him since Lucrezia Noin had offered her services as a bodyguard but that she'd been waiting for him to say it himself. By the time their delegation left on the twelfth of July, Relena had agreed to allow a small contingent of Freedom Fighters to patrol her boarders to protect her kingdom from those who wished to end her growing influence as the leader of a rising pacifist nation.

Zechs ended up staying behind when the others left; Relena having asked him to stay a little longer so she could get to know him. He probably would have left anyway if not for Harry loudly accepting the invitation on his behalf much to Zechs' annoyance and (much later) gratitude.

* * *

**Notes: **

Suit anatomy – below is a quick reference guide to which parts of the suit Harry refers to when he's talking about the suit as if it is a living breathing person. Some of these didn't come up in this chapter but I added them in anyway for future reference.

Brain – Wolfstar's computer  
Heart – the cockpit of the suit  
Mouth – external/internal speakers  
Shots/Vaccines – comparable to a firewall or anti-virus program  
Skin – the outer armor/casing  
Teeth and Claws – the various weapons of the suit  
Wings – the wings and directional propulsion jets housed in the wings of the suit  
Zero – the mental representation of the link that connects Harry to Wolfstar

* * *

**AN:** _Finally… I'd hoped to have this up yesterday but didn't quite manage to get to it because I'd been caught up in editing another story. Anyway, if the chapter seemed a bit rushed, it was… if only because it's more of a filler chapter to tie up a few loose ends in preparation for the next chapter. I was originally had the entire conversation between Zechs and Harry play out but I didn't see a need to rehash everything that had happened earlier in the story. I may throw it up as an omake after the final chapter, along with a few other scenes that were cut, depending on how things go. _

_Anywho… Zechs and Harry have an understanding now, Sally Po has resurfaced, Relena is back on Earth and the Sanc Kingdom has risen out of the ashes, Relena still fancies Heero but Heero is as oblivious as ever, and all of the warded suits have been shuffled about so that each one will be piloted by a different individual (instead of leaving Harry and his five brothers each with two suits). The remaining four pilots that are part of Harry's team will be named in the next chapter. Unfortunately, all four are OCs because there is a distinctive lack of names provided for the ton of soldiers and colonists on the Gundam Wiki page. So, if OCs annoy you, I'm sorry but they were a necessary evil. _

_Anyhow… the next chapter will finally address what is happening and what has happened to the wizarding world in the wake of Harry's departure. I hope to have it up tomorrow but I make no promises as tomorrow is the last day of school for the term and I have tons of stuff to finish before my youngest is out of school for the holidays. Also, the previous chapter was just reposted in order to correct a grammatical error that was kindly pointed out to me; there's no real need to re-read the chapter though as the mistake was merely a forgotten verb. ~ Jenn_


	34. The Sad, Sad Truth

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 33: The Sad, Sad Truth; Harry's Origins

The day of Harry's eighteenth birthday found Harry floating about the courtyard lying on his back on his broom with his wings hanging down on either side of the broom as Wolfstar lazily circled him in flight mode after a busy two weeks of lessons, missions, and brewing more potions. The majority of their troops were currently out taking care of various assignments while Harry had been given two days off and he'd taken advantage of the practically empty estate to fly his broom (something he'd not done for a while).

His thoughts had eventually turned inwards, after spending a few hours speeding about above the desert, reflecting on the past; something he'd not done for several months. He couldn't help but wonder what was happening in his former world, if those he'd gone to Hogwarts with were making lives for themselves. If his friends (and former friends) were missing him as much (or as little in a few cases) as he missed them. He even found himself trying to imagine what might have happened to Voldemort, Dumbledore, and all of the others who'd been after his money and fame (or just wanted him dead) once the news of his disappearance reached the general public.

Harry also wondered if Sirius had truly died or if he was still on the run from the ministry; since it had been an older, time traveling Sirius that had sent him away and not the Sirius from his own timeline. Though, that meant that at some point after the older Sirius had sent him off, the younger Sirius would have had to go back in time in order to be there to send him on his way. His thoughts were interrupted at that point as a voice called up to him from below.

"Aren't you worried about falling off?" Cathy demanded as she walked out into the courtyard, placed her hands on her hips, and pursed her lips as she stared up at Harry in exasperation.

"No, not really; even if I did I could easily catch myself with my wings before I hit the ground."

"Stubborn, smarty-pants," Cathy huffed with a slight smile. "Why don't you come down and come keep me company for a bit. We've not spent much time together since you returned and that's after you'd been gallivanting about space for more than half a year."

"Yes mother!" Harry cheekily called back as he flipped off his broom and dropped to the ground, his wings catching him at the last second so he landed lightly on his feet. He then took a moment to snag his outer shirt from the tree he'd hung it on while he'd been flying and slipped it back on over his wings.

"Cheeky little brat."

Harry laughed as Wolfstar reverted to suit mode and dropped down to his shoulder holding his broom in his shrunken hands. Harry accepted the broom and tucked it under his arm as he followed Cathy into the house. They ended up in the music room where Cathy demanded Harry dance with her for a couple of songs before they sat down to play checkers while the radio continued to play in the background. Wolfstar left them to their game so he could play about the piano; the soft pinging of random notes ringing out at the oddest moments and clashing with the music on the radio.

"So, what was it that drove you to float lazily about the courtyard?" Cathy asked as they set up the board for their fourth game.

"Most everyone is out on missions right now, so I took the opportunity to do some casual flying. It was nice to feel the wind on my face and after I while I got to thinking about all the times I'd spent on my broom which led to thinking about my old life. It was peaceful enough and I had nothing better to do so I kicked back and let myself actually think about that life and wonder what is happening to the people I knew."

"You weren't torturing yourself with 'what if's', were you?"

"No… not exactly. I was just letting my mind wander and contemplate what might have changed since I was thrown out of that world. It was the first time that thinking of my old world didn't hurt quite so bad and for once I could think of the good times without bruising my heart. I think it has a lot to do with truly accepting this world as my home now along with the acceptance that I found with you, my brothers, and the friends I've made here. I've also long since stopped resenting my godfather for sending me away without even asking me if I wanted to be sent away."

"I think I understand," Cathy murmured with a tender smile. "Anyone in particular you were thinking about?"

"Yeah… I was mostly thinking about my friends… Hermione, Hedwig, and Dobby as well as some who could have been my friends like Neville, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, and Oliver."

"There are an awful lot of girls on that short list," Cathy teased.

"Those were the only girls I really interacted with that weren't avid fans of the B.W.L.; Hermione being almost like a sister and one of my first ever friends and Katie, Alicia, and Angelina were my teammates on our house team along with Oliver and another two boys. The only reason there aren't more boys on that list was because I didn't list the three Weasley boys that I once thought were my friends. It doesn't hurt quite so much to think of the Weasleys now as it did in the beginning but I'm still confused about what to think about what I learned about their family."

"B.W.L.? What does that stand for?"

"The Boy-Who-Lived, it's what the wizarding world called me."

"Ah… you've spoken of that before I just didn't recognize the acronym. That name bothers you quite a bit, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does; to me it was silly to make me a hero or a celebrity because my mother sacrificed her life for mine and for some reason whatever she did helped to vanquish the darkest wizards of that time. I mean, what could I have possibly done? I was still in diapers at the time for crying out loud. But mostly I hated it because it meant no one saw Harry and all I ever wanted to be was Just Harry – not the freak my relatives thought me, not the hero the wizards wanted me to be, and not the rich, single celebrity the rabid fans all sought to claim."

"I find it kind of ironic that you enjoy performing and garnering attention while on the stage so much given how you felt about your unwanted fame."

"Ah… but that is a completely different kettle of fish, sister dear," Harry drawled dramatically as he captured yet another one of her checkers. "When I was in the ring, it was all me. The crowd loved me for what I did and was doing, not what they thought I did as a baby. It's the same reason I loved playing Quidditch in front of the entire school; it was a skill and a talent that was all me."

"So you are saying it is important for you to be given credit for the things you know you can do instead of what people think you have done?"

"Exactly!"

"Then why don't you believe yourself to be a hero? I know you've saved lives and have stepped up to fight a war that had nothing to do with you."

"I didn't do those things because I was trying to be a hero; I did them because they were the right thing to do and because I couldn't just stand aside when I knew I could make a difference. Plus my brothers needed to be protected from themselves a time or two."

"Most heroes are ordinary men and women who unhesitatingly did the right thing and risked their lives for another or to make a difference. Is it really all that bad that people see you as a hero for the risks you've taken to save their lives? Modesty is all well and good but don't dismiss everything you've done for others; it cheapens what you have done and gives the impression that you regret saving or helping them."

"I never actually thought of it that way," Harry replied quietly as he fiddled with the checker he'd just kinged for Cathy.

"That's because you were looking at it from only one side of the coin. You don't have to care what the world at large thinks but respect the feelings of those who gained something special through your sacrifices. And no I'm not talking about those who seek to profit from your actions; I'm talking about those whose lives you've saved and those who you've freed."

"I might be able to do that," Harry stated after giving Cathy's advice serious consideration. "You'll remind me if I forget again?"

"You bet I will."

"Thank you, Cathy."

"Enough of the serious matters now… You mentioned a bunch of names earlier but two of them seemed kind of different and a little odd for names. Who were Hedwig and Dobby?"

"Hedwig was an intelligent and beautiful snowy owl. She was my first companion, my first true birthday gift, and the first and only pet I've ever truly had since I don't consider the snakes pets even if they sometimes act like it. Not that Hedwig ever acted like a pet either; she was more of a friend and confidant as I often confided in her when I was feeling down or troubled. In return, she often treated me like I was her chick."

"And the Dobby person you mentioned?"

"Actually, he's not a person either; he was a house elf and house elves are rather intelligent magical beings that only appear humanoid. He was rather crazy, more than a little obsessive, and extremely excitable; he nearly killed me a couple of times in his enthusiasm in trying to protect me. He kinda grew on me after a while though; once he stopped trying to save my life that is."

Cathy chuckled over that before asking, "What other magical and mythical creatures did you come across?"

"Ah… there have been many. I'd met several centaurs, even had one save my life and allow me to ride on his back; the other centaurs got angry over that but I liked Firenze because he didn't seem as stuffy as the other centaurs nor as vague when speaking. I've seen unicorns, winged horses, mermaids, a sphinx, five different types of dragons…"

"Dragons? As in; giant as a house, eat you in one bite, fire-breathing dragons?"

"Yes, yes, and yes. The first one was a newly hatched baby named Norbert; I helped smuggle him out of the castle shortly after he was born. The other four were fully grown adult females complete with a nest of eggs each. Though, I could have done without the up close and personal encounter with the Hungarian Horntail; I still have the scars on my shoulder from where she nailed me with her spiked tail."

"I'd ask why you were bothering a nesting mother but I don't think I really want to know. What else have you encountered?"

"It wasn't by my choice that I faced her," Harry muttered with a grimace. "I'm just glad I walked or rather flew away in one relative piece when it was over. As for other creatures… let's see there was a huge basilisk, a hippogriff named Buckbeak that Hermione and I saved from an unjust execution, a number of annoying and dangerous critters that we studied in classes or met on the grounds (things like pixies, grindylows, boggarts, bowtruckles, and talking, man-eating spiders the size of a car), and a phoenix."

"You've mentioned a phoenix before… the one you said you thought had something to do with why you ended up with wings?"

"Yes… the very same; he belonged to the headmaster of the school."

"What does one name a phoenix?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply only to hesitate as he'd always been more than a little afraid to speak Fawkes's name out loud. He was still silently debating on whether or not to name the phoenix when Cathy spoke again.

"Is there something wrong, Harry? Or did you just forget what his name was?"

"No, I still remember what his name was but… it's childish really. I've sorta been afraid to speak his name out loud because I feared saying his name would call him and he would take me back to my old world. Yeah, I might have wanted to go back at one point but I didn't want to be taken to the man who was the biggest reason my godfather sent me away in the first place. Kinda silly, really, since I doubt magic could reach across dimensions so easily or far more wizards would be traveling between worlds."

"I don't think it's childish to fear being whisked away without your permission; especially considering it had already happened once. Has the phoenix ever shown up before just because you called his name?"

"Not precisely; but he did show up when I really needed help to fight the basilisk. And they do have the ability to travel most any where. House elves do too but no matter how many times I called Dobby's name, he never responded so my fear is probably unfounded anyway. I don't know if the headmaster named him or if he came with the name or what; but I was told his name was Fawkes and he seemed to respond to it."

"Fawkes?"

"Yeah; ironic really because Guy Fawkes was the name of one of those who sought to dispose of King James the First and if I remember rightly he was caught inside of a room full of gunpowder and explosives and phoenixes are birds long associated with fire because of their ability to be reborn out of their ashes. They also have the ability to travel through flames."

"Phoenixes sound like amazing creatures."

"They really are. My wand actually has the tail feather of a phoenix inside of it. In fact, it was at the end of my fourth year that I learned it is actually one of Fawkes's tail feathers inside of my wand. Kind of neat knowing I got to meet the phoenix that freely gave up a part of himself just so my wand could be made."

"I can see how that would make your wand something special above and beyond the fact that it allows you to do magic," Cathy wistfully murmured. "I would have loved to have had a chance to meet mythical creatures like unicorns, winged horses, mermaids, and phoenixes."

"Merfolk aren't all they're cracked up to be," Harry dryly countered. "They look nothing like fiction paints them and they can be quite vicious. Their voices sound like a hundred dying cats running their claws down a chalkboard while caterwauling in disharmony and could easily deafen someone if they listened to it long enough. Though they sound like normal humans under the water."

"What about the magical horses?"

Harry was about to answer only for the oh so familiar sound of phoenix music to start filling the room, growing louder as the seconds ticked by and Harry's eyes widened as he immediately realized what that meant; he'd called the phoenix to his side because he'd stupidly called the bird by name. He had a split second to breathe out a strangled, "Oh, fuck me," before a burst of flames appearing directly over the table sent Cathy dropping to the floor with a short scream. Harry on the other hand was frozen in shock in his seat as he stared at the familiar but unfamiliar phoenix that had appeared in the air above the table where Harry and Cathy were sitting.

"Fawkes…?" Harry asked with a tremulous voice as he took in the swan-like bird with feathers that were almost pure white with red and yellow-gold tips; bar the phoenix's crest, which was still a solid, vibrant red.

The bird trilled an affirmative and Harry jumped up out of his chair and scrambled back so fast that he knocked the chair over in his haste to put space between him and the bird. Cathy slowly rose up onto her feet as she stared at the bird with wide eyes before glancing beyond it to meet Harry's frightened eyes. The phoenix then gave a second trill as he swept towards Harry, clutched Harry's shoulder in his claws, and flashed Harry out of the Winner Estate with a second explosion of flames leaving behind a panic stricken Cathy and a soon to be frantic Wolfstar.

"Damn it, Fawkes! How could you!? Take me back to my family you overgrown pigeon!" Harry cried as he was dropped on the hard, dusty floor of a darkened room.

Fawkes squawked indignantly at the insult and pecked Harry sharply on the head before he took to the air and trilled several irritated notes before falling silent. Harry cursed several more times, tears of frustration falling from his eyes over the pain he felt at being torn away from his family without any warning. He should have known better than to carelessly throw about Fawkes's name (stupidly calling it out a total of three times without a care – which only would have strengthened the call because three was a magically significant number in summoning).

He calmed down a few minutes later as Fawkes began singing a sad song that was filled with just a thread of hope and comfort. Once he was calmer, Harry finally realized that no one had greeted him though someone must have surely heard his arrival given how loudly he'd been cursing and yelling. Pushing his irritation and trepidation to the back of his mind, Harry frowned and pulled out his wand so he could better see where he'd ended up.

He only grew more confused when he discovered the room that he'd thought he'd landed in was actually the cave where he, Hermione, and Ron had once met up with Sirius during their first visit to Hogsmeade after he'd completed the first task of the Tournament. Furrowing his brow, Harry glanced about the small cave and then looked to where Fawkes was standing on the ground just a few feet away; the phoenix having fallen silent the moment Harry was no longer in a state of fury filled panic.

"Why did you bring me back here Fawkes? Why this cave?"

In response, the phoenix took flight once more and headed towards the entrance and Harry reluctantly followed, dowsing the light of his wand when the cave began growing lighter as the fading afternoon sun filtered in through the mouth of the cave. The moment Harry's eyes landed on the valley below as he stepped clear of the cave he sucked in a sharp breath and staggered back a step as if he'd been punched hard in the stomach. This time it was tears of grief and disbelief that filled his eyes as he took in the broken ruins of what had once been Hogsmeade Village. Just beyond the village, stood Hogwarts castle looking cold and neglected – a large section of the once great castle nothing but rubble as if some huge giant had stepped on one side of it.

"What happened, Fawkes?" Harry asked as the phoenix lightly landed on his shoulder once more.

Fawkes gave a sad trill and buried his head beneath his wing as he wept; his healing tears soaking both of them as the bird grieved. Swallowing thickly, knowing that phoenixes don't cry lightly (their tears were too precious to waste on trivial emotions); Harry woodenly began making his way down from the cave down the meandering back trail (the main trail currently unsafe to use due to extensive damage). As he reached the outskirts of the former village, the first building he should have come to was the Shrieking Shack but all that remained of the former 'haunted' house was a large, blackened crater. Harry stared at the place where the shack had once stood for a long minute before he let his feet carry him towards the main street of the small town.

Everywhere he looked, Harry could see the tumbled down, burnt out shells of what used to be homes and businesses; the magical wards woven over them just enough to save them from the ravages of time (and he knew it had been years since the destruction first happened because nature had been trying to reclaim the surrounding land) but not enough to protect them from what ever had destroyed them. He felt something twist in his gut as he drew even with the ruins that had once been the Three Broomsticks before he tore his eyes away and glanced at the other shops that were now nothing more than burnt timbers and broken stones.

It was all gone; all of the shops and stores, the cafes and pubs, and the houses of the witches and wizards that had once claimed Hogsmeade as their home had been utterly destroyed. Well… all except one lone building that was sitting just on the outskirts of town right beside the road leading up to the castle; a building that Harry didn't recall ever seeing before.

Picking his way carefully towards the only building still standing in the valley (not counting the castle – which looked like it could collapse at any minute), Harry wondered again what had happened. Oh he knew what it looked like had happened but that didn't tell him who had destroyed the small town or what had happened to those who'd once lived there. Nor did it tell him what had happened to the castle; a castle that had stood virtually unmolested for over a thousand years and that he knew should have stood unbroken for a thousand more. Upon reaching the front of the building, Harry blinked in surprise as he took in the slightly charred sign that hung over top of the shop's door as well as the amusingly childish slogan and odd notice posted on the door.

_Potter's Pranks_

_Perfectly pugnacious pranks from the proud purveyors of pure pandemonium_

_Weasleys, Dumbledores, and Death Eaters are not welcome and will be hexed  
on sight; no questions asked._

Letting out a weak chuckle, Harry cautiously stepped up on the covered porch and peered through the glass door to see what was inside. On a whim he dropped his hand to the handle and gave it an experimental turn only to find it locked. He then received the shock of a lifetime as two familiar voices called out to him.

"Oy, we're closed; can't ya tell?"

"If we were open don't you think the door would be, well, open?"

"Fred? George?" Harry croaked in hope and confusion as he shook the hand of the door again.

"Hey! Cut that out!"

"Do it again and we'll hex you."

Not wanting to get hexed, Harry knocked loudly on the door and called out the twins' names a second time. He waited a moment and knocked a second time when there was no response. Two minutes later, when he still hadn't heard a reply to his calls and knocks, Harry tried the handle again.

"You need to stop that!"

"Yeah, don't you know it's rude to fondle another guy's knob?"

Harry couldn't help but choke out a pained laugh at the crude innuendo; it was so like the twins to sink to using crude humor. He pounded on the door this time as his shook the handle for a forth time.

"Okay, you are a persistent little bugger."

"Which means you are in desperate need of a pranking…"

"Or you are one of our employees who lost their key again…"

"In which case, you should know to use the password…"

"Unless you want to be hexed?"

"Yeah… you might look good in green boils, magenta hair, and black lip-gloss."

"Password? What would you use for a pass…? Don't tell me you used the Map's password," Harry murmured to himself as he tapped his wand to the door and stated, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

"Good to hear you are keeping your priorities straight, Mr. Potter."

"Glad to see the rumors of your untimely death were a bit premature, little buddy."

"Come on in… if we're not here, we'll be here when it's time to open the shop."

"Help yourself to whatever you need; lord knows you've helped us more than we know."

Harry opened the door the instant he heard the lock releasing and dashed inside expecting to see a grinning Fred and George only to find nothing but shelf upon shelf of dust covered merchandise. There wasn't even a single footprint marring the dust on the floor aside from those that Harry had made as he walked in. Spinning around in a circle, Harry felt a wave of grief hit him as he realized that the voices he'd heard must have been nothing but a charm on the door.

"Damn it, Fred and George… I really could have used a friendly face right about now. I wonder how the charms on the door knew it was me though."

Shaking his head, Harry browsed through the shelves to take in the various pranks for sale and chuckled over the more creative ones. He was also puzzled as to who owned the shop and why it was named Potter's Pranks of all things (since as far as he knew he was the only Potter still living). Eventually, he ended up on the top floor of the two story building (not counting the basement where he'd found a workroom and a fully stocked potions lab) which appeared to have been someone's apartment. The matching outfits scattered haphazardly throughout the rooms led him to believe that it was the twins who'd been living there at some point. Sighing, Harry dropped down onto a dust covered couch and dropped his head in his hands as he allowed his grief over his missing friends (and his now absent family back home) to wash over him.

"Oy! How rude!"

"We see how it is now…"

"We gave you a place to run to…"

"But you can't even be bothered to say hello…"

"Before you make yourself at home!"

"Fred? George? Where are you?" Harry asked as he jumped back to his feet, nearly dislodging the phoenix now sleeping on his shoulder.

"Right behind you, little brother," both twins said.

Harry spun around with a smile already forming on his lips only to gasp in shock as he discovered that it had been a magical portrait addressing him and not the actual twins. "Oh… you… you're a painting. Where are the real yous?"

"We're dead, Harry. True magical portraits only come to life once the wizard has died," one twin sadly replied.

"What happened? How did you die? When did you die? Where is everyone else? Who owns Potter's Pranks?"

"Boy, for someone who made himself pretty scarce for who knows how many years, he sure does have a boat load of questions, doesn't he, Fred?"

"That he does George… and he hasn't even gone and explained why he looks like someone tried sucking all of the life out of him. Do you think he met up with a succubus at some point?"

"That or he thought he needed to be lighter to play Quidditch properly and tried one of them new fangled diets."

"Please guys… I've been gone for three years and things are confusing enough as it is… I had no way of contacting anyone or I would have. Damn it…" Harry cursed as he suddenly glared up at the twins. "It's your damn family that owes me an explanation!"

"You are our family… we disowned the Weasleys as did Bill, Charlie, and Percy after we found out what our former parents and siblings had done and tried to do."

"All five of us took the name Potter once they declared you dead and we never once looked back."

"And Harry, you were gone for close to twenty years before we died. It's been far longer than that since we did die."

"How is that possible? I only left three years ago and Fawkes can't travel through time," Harry demanded as he glanced between the sleeping phoenix and the portrait several times.

"You found Fawkes? Is that him?"

"Oh, he's almost gone completely white, poor old chap. Did you know he vanished just days after you did?"

"Dumbledore was rightly pissed – thought you'd somehow stolen the phoenix from him after you got yourself out from under his thumb."

"We tried to find you for years after you first disappeared; we'd wanted to thank you for the million galleons you'd left at Gringotts for us."

"Why did you leave us the money if you thought we were in on what our former family did?"

"I didn't leave you any money and I didn't escape. Sirius sent me away to save me from Dumbledore which means he's the one that probably left you the money in my name. That means he must have thought the two of you were true friends. Wish he'd have told me that in the letter he left me so I would have known I'd had at least had two more true friends other than Hermione these past three years."

"Ah… guess that means we both have loads to catch up on."

"How much time do you have? Because the story is long and ugly."

"I don't know… I have to find a way to get home. I found me a real family in the world that Sirius sent me to and I don't want them to think I abandoned them after being phoenix-napped right out of our house."

"What do you mean by world?"

"Sirius said he was sending me to a new world because our world wasn't safe for me. Fawkes brought me back because I accidentally summoned him. Cathy and my brothers are probably going spare right about now trying to figure out a way to come and get me."

"Uh… Harry, I hate to break it to you… but there is no magic that could send you to a new world. There is only one world."

"But Sirius said…"

"He either lied to keep you from coming back or he mistakenly thought he was sending you somewhere else."

"But I was only gone for three years… if he just sent me somewhere else in the world; wouldn't only three years have passed for you as well as for me?"

"Not necessarily… he could have sent you into the future… cause now that I think about it you look about the same as you did before you left (if we ignore the hair and your mismatched eyes); only you're skinnier and it makes you look even younger than usual."

"You think I look young right now? You should have seen me when I first ended up wherever it was I ended up. I looked like a fucking six year old!"

"Sounds like Sirius really messed up big time. What year is it anyway?"

"Um… don't know… it was one-ninety-six A.C. where I was just an hour earlier."

"In English?"

"They mark the years differently there… or is it here? Are you certain it's not possible to travel between dimensions or something?" Harry asked with a hint of pleading in his tone.

"If it was possible, don't you think more witches and wizards would have been doing it?" both twins declared as they unknowingly echoed Harry's earlier comment to Cathy.

Harry dropped down onto the coffee table in front of the couch and once more buried his face in his hands as he tried to absorb what he'd just learned. Out of all the possible things Sirius could have done to send Harry somewhere safe he never once imagined that it had been to some distant future… that the ruins of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts (and who knows how many other magical villages and towns) had been sitting unnoticed for the past three years.

"I think we broke him, Fred."

"I think you might be right, George."

"Where did all the wizards go? I've been using magic like crazy for the last three years and in front of muggles for the last year. Why hasn't anyone tried to arrest me for breaking the statute of secrecy? Why didn't I get a letter from the Ministry about underage magic before my seventeenth birthday like I did the summer before my second year?" Harry asked tightly as he lifted his head up just enough to peer at the portrait from over the top of his glasses; finally allowing himself to take in how much older both twins appeared when compared to his last memory of them from his fourth year. Both of them looked to be in their mid-thirties with more than a few stress lines marring their faces alongside the more numerous laugh lines.

"Because by the time we died there wasn't much left standing here in Britain aside from Hogwarts; everything else had been abandoned, destroyed, or buried completely. Voldemort… after you vanished the world went mad and it was one long, brutal war. People were dying left and right and no one wanted to work together because we didn't know who to trust after Dumbledore went mad… or rather madder after you disappeared. The barmy old goat went and broke Grindelwald out of Nurmengard and the two of them attempted to take over the world before Voldemort could gain control of everything. The three of them laid waste to nearly half of Europe before the muggles stepped in and began eradicating every single magical they came across – including the creatures and beings," George explained solemnly in the longest speech Harry had ever heard him give without double teaming with Fred.

"The muggles actually killed all three of them and most of their followers in a huge bombing that completely sank Azkaban Island where they'd been fighting to take control of the dementors. Wiped out the dementors at the same time," Fred added just as seriously. "The scattered magicals from Britain, Ireland, and Western Europe who'd survived up to that point came here to Hogwarts for sanctuary since the other European schools had been destroyed by Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort. We were sold out after two years by a bunch of disgruntled squibs and one stupid, greedy wizard. A bunch of us were caught by the muggles and eventually put to death for 'crimes against humanity' because we'd been born with magic. Anyone who managed to escape capture went underground and either died of old age and starvation or were later caught and killed as well; we don't rightly know because we died when Hogwarts fell."

"There might be one or two places still standing if they had half decent wards; like our shop here and Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley. Part of Hogwarts should still be standing but we wouldn't know for sure stuck as we are here in the shop due to the muggles dropping several bombs on the castle and on Hogsmeade. The wards diffused much of the blast but the castle still took quite a bit of damage because the giants that Voldemort had unleashed on the castle just a couple years after you vanished had weakened the structure in several places before they were chased off or killed. It was a terrible time," George finished wearily.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to fight beside you guys," Harry choked out as he wiped the tears from his face. "The village was completely ruined aside from this building but most of Hogwarts still stands from what I saw when I first got here. Why haven't the muggles taken over the lands surrounding Hogsmeade and the castle grounds? It's all so desolate and empty of everything."

"Don't know… maybe they forgot about it once they figured they killed us all off."

"That or whoever led them here was executed with the rest of us and magic wouldn't let them back in without someone to lead the way."

There were several long minutes of silence before Harry stood up and addressed the portrait one last time, "I have to go guys. If this really is the same world… I have to find a way to get back to my family before they worry themselves sick."

"Please take us with you, Harry."

"We're tired of hanging around here all by ourselves."

"We're tired of laughing at our own jokes too."

"We've heard them all so many times now that they just aren't that funny any more."

"You should pack up the store and take everything with you as well."

"S'not doing us any good just sitting there."

"As the only living partner of Potter's Pranks it all belongs to you anyway."

"I suppose I can spare a few hours to pack up a few things up though I don't know how good all the pranks are since they've been sitting for who knows how long," Harry replied as he stared up at the pleading faces of the twins and gave them a tight smile. "And how could I leave you behind when I have at least one brother who would appreciate your humor?"

"All of our packaging had top of the line preservation charms on them so they should all be as good as the day they were first packaged; unless the magic has faded."

"You should probably at least visit the castle and see if there's anything salvageable up there too. The library may or may not have survived the raid as Flitwick, Pince, and a few of the other staff warded it and several other rooms the moment we realized we were under attack."

"I don't know if I could face the castle right now, but I'll think about it. Do you know if anyone escaped?"

"Yeah, we got a bunch of people out through the secret passageway on the third floor; Fred and I went down buying McGonagall, Sirius, and Remus time to get a bunch of people out."

"Couldn't say whether or not any of them made it out of Hogsmeade but our best fighters went with them; including Hermione, Neville, Viktor, Fleur, and our three older brothers."

"Do you know where they would have gone?

"Not a clue, mate; we'd asked them not to tell us in case we were captured. Didn't want there to be even the slightest chance that we'd betray them if the muggles had gotten it into their heads to torture us for the information."

"Oh," Harry replied with more than a little disappointment as he climbed up onto the couch and pulled their portrait down from the wall before carrying them downstairs with him so he could pack up the shop as requested (hoping the twins would be able to help him dismantle any traps they'd left about the shop).

It took Harry six hours to clear away all of the dust, undue the defensive wards, charm the dozens of crates he'd dug out of the basement with expansion charms, and pack up everything that could be salvaged from the shop, the twins' apartment above, and the workshop below. He then pulled out Moody's old trunk and piled the numerous crates into the empty seventh compartment before he shrunk the trunk and tucked it into his pocket and moved Fred and George's portrait into his supply trunk. He then headed back out into the village where he dug through the ruins of the other stores; the twins having managed to talk him into checking to see if anything useful had survived the destruction intact.

That was how he'd managed to collect another couple of dozen cases of old wizarding alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, several thousand books, and several dozen crates of parchment, quills, and ink. There were also countless crates of the more common potion ingredients, a couple thousand yards of magically manufactured fabrics (such as magically grown cotton, bicorn wool, dragon hide, and acromantula silk), numerous boxes of wizarding clothes (most notably robes), and near to five hundred pounds of preserved magical candies and sweets. There would have been far more if the wards on the other stores hadn't started failing at some point. And that wasn't even taking into consideration what was potentially preserved in the private homes and apartments since Harry didn't bother digging through those ruins.

It was nearly two o'clock in the morning by that time and Harry worried about what was happening back at the estate with his brothers. He would have asked Fawkes to take him home but the phoenix still hadn't woken back up and he didn't have any way of getting home by himself because his broom and Wolfstar had been left behind when Fawkes phoenix-napped him. He didn't even have his laptop with him because the command trunk was currently sitting in Wolfstar's cockpit and for some reason Harry couldn't even sense Zero in the back of his mind; yet another reason why he'd thought he'd been taken back to a different world.

So, Harry reluctantly headed up to the castle to pass the time until Fawkes woke because he couldn't sleep and didn't want to just stand around doing nothing. If the grounds of the castle looked cold and depressing it was nothing to how desolate the inside of the castle appeared. All but three of the portraits that had once hung throughout the halls and stairways of the castle (not counting the ones that had been protected in those areas that had been sealed off and protected with wards) had all been burned, ripped to shreds, or smashed to bits and their occupants had either fled to other frames in different buildings or were destroyed.

Those still in one piece with the subjects still active were the Fat Lady, Sir Cadogan, and a forest that held a single rather shy unicorn; Harry moved those portraits into his trunk with the twins (at their request and because he felt the unicorn would be lonely if left behind). Additionally, all but a single suit of armor, every last statue, and all but a dozen tapestries had been destroyed; the armor melted into slag, beaten flat, or shot so full of holes their enchantments failed, the statues shattered beyond repair (Harry had tried fixing more than one), and the tapestries nothing more than ash piled on the floor and soot outlines on the walls (even the surviving pieces of woven art were more than a little singed around the edges).

The kitchen was a complete mess as were eighty percent of the hallways, storerooms, classrooms, the Great Hall, and two of the four common rooms and dorms (Slytherin's buried beneath the damaged section of the castle and Hufflepuff's vandalized). None of the many secret passages and shortcuts were working either, not even those that appeared to have escaped the destruction. Gryffindor Tower, Ravenclaw Tower, the library, Filch's office, the infirmary, the potions lab, Snape's office, and the headmaster's office were the only places that seemed to have survived the widespread vandalism and that was only because they had been locked up tighter than a nunnery facing a horde of barbarians set on pillaging.

The sun rose and an entire day passed by without Harry even noticing as he packed up every last book (using the pack spell), gathered up all of the working portraits, salvaged a handful of potions and potion ingredients (from the infirmary), and gathered up useful magical items and equipment that had survived the passing of time in the protected areas. He also collected anything that looked like it might have pertinent information about what had happened since the day Sirius had sent him into what he now knew was the future and not another world. The headmaster's office had been a veritable treasure trove of books, magical gadgets, intact portraits, and information; the most startling being the fact that the sorting hat was still in one piece and still fully functional (it had greeted him by name before going dormant once more).

The portraits of the former headmaster and headmistresses joined those in Harry's trunk minus Dumbledore's; which Harry had torched the moment it opened its mouth and addressed Harry as 'my boy'. Harry probably could have learned a lot from the man but he just couldn't stomach the sight of the ancient wizard or the sound of his grandfatherly voice after having read through part of what the man planned for him and learning that the man had allowed and encouraged Snape to do what he did. The bearded manipulator and closet dark lord had left behind more than three dozen highly detailed hand-written journals and thousands of meticulously cataloged memories (along with his pensieve) anyway; so it wasn't like all of the man's knowledge had been lost.

The only rooms that Harry didn't bother exploring were Snape's office and the potions lab (because of the four years worth of memories of the horrifying detentions he'd suffered through in those two rooms). Not even the high likelihood of finding useable potion ingredients or rare potions enabled him to put aside his fear and disgust. His memories of the humiliation and pain that Snape had foisted upon him were still far too fresh in his mind and the emotional wounds far too raw for him to face (especially when he was completely alone and faced with the place where it had happened).

Those dark and terrible memories were some of the few things he'd never spoken of except in passing on a small handful of occasions. It was also the one subject that his brothers had not pushed him to discuss; his reaction to learning that they'd read his medical file and Dumbledore's journals detailing what had been done to him physically during those detentions had been negative enough that they hadn't wished to force him to deal with that part of his past. His near breaking after the incident that triggered his desperate escape from Luxembourg Castle had only reinforced the need for them to allow Harry to come to terms with those particular memories in his own time.

By the time Harry had finished clearing out the headmaster's office (the last room he'd ventured into to), it was fast approaching midnight once more and Harry was feeling completely exhausted so he crashed up in his old dorm for old time's sake. He woke up around noon the next day and discovered that Fawkes had left him sometime after he'd fallen asleep. Frustrated that his ride back to the Winner Estate had ditched him and needing something to occupy his time, Harry slipped down to the Chamber of Secrets to see if the bones of the basilisk were still there and found the magically preserved carcass fully intact (aside from the broken fang and the hole in its mouth and head where Harry had stabbed it) due to the advanced wards protecting the hidden subterranean chamber.

Thinking his brothers and the Maganac might wish to see it, he loaded the entire beast into the box he'd brought for the skull he'd hoped to salvage from the skeleton. He explored the chamber for a couple of hours but there was nothing else down there aside from the basilisk's nest (no hidden library, no secret study, and no concealed lab filled with archaic tomes, rare potion projects, or ancient secrets). He had just spent an hour and a half climbing up the pipes to reach the bathroom entrance when Fawkes appeared once more and led him on a merry chase through the castle.

He'd been determined to order the bird to take him back home but the phoenix had other ideas as it eventually led Harry to a rather magical room that he might have used to teach an illicit club forbidden spells during his fifth year if he'd stayed in his proper time. The room that came into existence had actually been used as a command center at one point and had a wealth of information above and beyond what he'd found in the staff offices or had been told by the portraits about what had happened after he'd left; there were even a decade or two's worth of old newspapers stacked up along one wall.

He ended up spending the rest of the afternoon and all evening carefully boxing it all up. As he worked, he silently wondered what he was going to do with all of the crap he'd gathered over the past two and a half days. After he sealed and put away the last box, Harry took a moment to make himself something to eat and shared some fruit with Fawkes before he grabbed a sleeping bag and pillow (who'd refused to take him home when he asked). He then lay on his back inside the recently emptied room and stared up at the ceiling for several hours as he tried to process everything he'd learned until exhaustion claimed him once more.

Harry was up an hour before sunrise the next morning despite the fact that he still felt rather tired. He knew he'd wasted enough time though and he had to find a way to either get himself home or get a message to one of his brothers so that they could come pick him up. After fixing himself a light breakfast that he once again shared with Fawkes (who had again refused to take him home), he left the castle and made his way outside to wander over the school grounds as the sun rose. As he walked, his thoughts returned to his current predicament.

He was too far to portkey and he didn't know any good midway points that would be safe to jump to. He'd never bothered to learn how to apparate, since there was no one who could put him back to rights if he splinched himself. Fawkes still wasn't inclined to help him (the phoenix in question once again sleeping on his shoulder) and there were no other towns within walking distance (at least not that he knew of and he really didn't feel like trudging through untold wilds just to find one). A trip down into his trunk to pick the brains of the portraits saw him learning the advanced version of the Patronus Spell that could be used to send secure messages.

It took him two hours to get the spell right but the moment he did he gave his message to the glowing stag and watched it streak off into the sky and prayed that it would reach his brothers and still have enough magic to pass along his message.

* * *

**AN:** _Even though I knew from the moment I wrote the first chapter that this was where I going with the story, this chapter was very hard for me to write. And I don't mean hard in the sense that it was difficult to write, because it wasn't; I mean that it was hard in that it hurt to write the history of the wizarding world without Harry. Some of you may have even suspected that I was headed in this direction if you had recognized the 'gold sand' that appeared after the device broke in the prologue. _

_There is still quite a bit that has been left unsaid that will come up in the next chapter or in a few chapters down the road; so if your questions about the wizarding world or a specific individual's fate wasn't answered here, it will be addressed later. That will include how Harry ended up being thrown through time instead of thrown into a new world; though, if you think about, even if he's on the same earth as he was born on, he was still thrown into a new world since the world is nothing like how he remembered it. _

_In the mean time, I thought you should know that approximately half of the story has been posted now. There are still roughly thirty chapters waiting for me to edit and post them while I'm working on the final two/three chapters of the story. Tying up loose ends is always a pain but necessary I suppose. _

_Anyway… the next chapter will have the pilots' reactions to Harry being bird-napped out of the Winner Estate and will have more information on the state of the wizarding world. Don't know when I'll be posting it but it should be fairly soon (like no later than this weekend). It will also be the last chapter I post until after Christmas as I need to finish up the next chapter of Haunted, finish up with the edits to WWYR1, and get the first chapter of WWYR2 ready for posting. Once that is done, I'll resume posting on this story (so either the 25__th__ or the 26__th__). ~ Jenn_


	35. Those Left Behind

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 34: Those Left Behind

Heero paced in agitation as his fellow Gundam pilots, Rashid, Abdul, Cathy, Zechs, Sally, and the eight members of Taliesin's squad watched him pensively. It had been close to seventy-two hours since Cathy had sent out a frantic call in a blind panic babbling about some damned bird flaming into the room and kidnapping Taliesin right before her eyes. The shrunken Wolfstar had gone completely feral just minutes after Taliesin had vanished and they still hadn't bothered to repair or replace the various pieces of furniture and musical instruments the suit had destroyed (using nothing but its fists since its weapons had been locked at the time) before Quatre had caught him and dropped him into an empty ammunition box with the help of Heero. The suit's small fists could still be heard pounding on the side of the thick metal box in the silence that filled the room.

None of the five teens that Taliesin called brothers had gotten much sleep since they'd returned to the Winner Estate in the wake of Cathy's frantic call and none of them had bothered even pretending to eat. In fact, they hadn't even left the conference room since they'd first gathered (not counting using the bathroom out of necessity); as if walking out of the room would somehow make Taliesin's abrupt disappearance more real or worse, permanent. They didn't care about anything except figuring out how to get their brother back because the idea that they would never see him again was far too painful for any of them to contemplate (it was the same reason why'd they'd surrendered to Zechs after the man had captured the wizard a second time).

The problem, was that the five teens had had no idea how to go about trying to find their missing brother and no starting point at which to begin a search; for how does one travel between different worlds without magic? None of the adults had had any idea of what to do either and the longer Taliesin was gone, the shorter the Gundam pilots' tempers had gotten until they were practically snapping at each other. Cathy had been a mess the entire time because she blamed herself for talking Taliesin into naming (and therefore calling) the bird that had taken off with the wizard.

If not for the various soldiers and other pilots taking up their slack, their efforts to stop the war might have ground to a halt as the five of them practically ceased being able to function. Rashid, Abdul, Sally, and Zechs were a big help in keeping the five pilots from doing anything rash or stupid though, in addition to making certain everyone else carried on with business as usual. The four of them also functioned as a sounding board for any harebrained ideas that the five teens came up with in order to get Taliesin back (such as the one that had all five of them taking off into space in an attempt to track down Taliesin's alternate world).

Zechs was also worried about Taliesin but felt the teen wizard could handle any trouble sent his way and fully believed that Taliesin would find his own way back to them (the pint-sized teen was just that stubborn after all). That was a belief shared by the other eight pilots that made up Taliesin's squad; the eight of them had seen Taliesin pull off some amazing stunts both inside and outside of a suit, after all. The only reason they weren't out on any missions at the moment was because they hadn't felt right going out without their squad leader (even if Zechs could have led them since he was technically the second in command of their ten man squad).

It was into this morose and tense atmosphere that a bright, silvery stag unexpectedly danced through the wall radiating a steady wave of peace and happiness that was overlaid with palpable grief just minutes before one o'clock in the afternoon.

"If the lot of you are done running about like chickens with their heads cut off, I could use a ride," Taliesin's voice drolly announced in a voice that was laced with tension and pain as the stag pranced to a stop facing Heero. "I seem to have found myself unexpectedly stranded somewhere in Scotland and either the distance or the level of magical saturation in the valley I am in is interfering with my connection to Zero and Wolfstar. I don't know where exactly I am in Scotland but if you bring Wolfstar with you, he might be able to find me if my connection to Zero is restored once he gets close enough."

The stag then swung its head so that it faced Trowa and Quatre who were sitting side by side as it continued, "I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner but I was blindsided by a few things when I first got here and there were a few things I needed to do. There's also the fact that I only just now learned how to use my patronus to send messages and it took me a good two hours to get the spell to work properly. I don't know how long it'll take this message to reach you or how fast a patronus can travel but to give you an idea of the time involved it's currently eight-fifteen a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on August third. Don't know how useful that information will be though."

"I'll send another message in twelve hours if you haven't found me by then and see if I can't give you a little help in case the magic hiding the valley continues to interfere with your ability to pinpoint my location," the stag added as it turned towards Wufei and Duo. "Don't worry about me, I'm not in any danger because anything dangerous that would have made a home here is long dead and their bones long since turned to dust. I… there's much I'm going to have to tell you guys when you get here."

The magically created stag then walked up to brush against Cathy (a silent offer of comfort that was Taliesin's way of letting her know that he didn't blame her for Fawkes taking off with him) before it faded out of existence and as one the five Gundam pilots turned to face each other hardly daring to hope that they'd just seen and heard what they thought they had.

"Did I really just see and hear…?" Sally asked in disbelief, the only one present who hadn't known about Taliesin's magic until she'd been filled in by the others two days earlier when they sought her help in finding their brother. The holographic-like stag was the first bit of proof she'd seen aside from the oddities revolving around the Star Suits and the Gundams that she had written off as technological advances.

"He's in Scotland," Heero hoarsely stated as he leaned weakly against the table. "He's here in this world; in fucking Scotland, of all places."

"Well, why da hell are we just sittin' around here when we coulda been halfway there by now?" Duo demanded as he jumped up from his seat and strode to the door.

"Hold your horses," Rashid ordered. "The lad won't be pleased with any of you if you show up looking like death warmed over and smelling like fresh camel dung on a trash heap. Go gather up anything you think might help you pinpoint his exact location, grab something to eat so you don't pass out from low blood sugar, and for crying out loud go take a shower and put on clean clothes!"

"I'll get a cargo plane ready; since we'll need something that will fit most of us and flying a dozen or so mobile suits isn't really advisable least we attract unwanted attention," Zechs added as he rose to his feet before he pointed to the three space pilots Taliesin had befriended during his early days as part of the Resistance out in space. "You three, however, will be taking your suits just in case we need the firepower in the event that Taliesin isn't as safe as he thinks he is or we run into OZ, Treize, or the Alliance en route. Sally, Rashid; I trust the two of you will hold the fort here until we get back?"

"Of course," Sally replied automatically as she shook off the shock of seeing and hearing a glowing silver deer talk with Taliesin's familiar voice.

"I will go with you," Abdul declared after glancing towards Rashid, the Maganacs' second in command very fond of Taliesin as he saw the wizard as his honorary nephew (as did most of the other Maganacs).

"Don't bother with the cargo plane; if the place where he ended up is as saturated with magic as he believes it is, then the plane would only fail the moment we got close enough," Heero interjected before Zechs could leave the room. "We'll have to take one of the two warded shuttles that we returned to Earth in."

Three hours and twenty minutes later, the seventeen of them (sixteen humans and one rather angry suit) were racing off towards Scotland in one shuttle and three mobile suits. Those not occupied with piloting a suit or the shuttle were busy pulling up maps and satellite feeds of Scotland so that they could figure out where Taliesin was likely to have ended up (Quatre continuing to keep an eye on the still imprisoned Wolfstar to make certain the sentient suit didn't cause any more trouble).

* * *

Shortly after losing sight of the silver stag, Harry resumed his wandering around the grounds and after a few hours spent picking his way through the ruins of the school's greenhouses, he found himself staring sadly at the melted remains of the three goal posts that had once stood proudly on the north end of the Quidditch Pitch. He then glanced up towards the Forbidden Forest that somehow seemed empty and pathetic as opposed to dark and dangerous as it had the last time he'd seen it. The aching in his heart increased with each additional sign of mindless destruction as Harry slowly made his way to the half burnt shell of Hagrid's old cabin sitting just a few feet away from the edge of the forest.

He was absently toeing what he was certain was one of Hagrid's infamous rock cakes (apparently not even time or weapons of mass destruction could destroy the hard cakes) when he heard a sound coming from the direction of the forest and felt eyes watching him. Turning slowly, keeping his face pointed towards the ground so as not to let who or whatever it was know he'd heard them; Harry scanned the edge of the forest from the corner of his eye. He was a bit startled to find a couple of skeletal horse-like creatures (that looked half starved) watching him from the shadows beneath the trees.

Lifting his head so he could see them better, Harry held the rest of his body perfectly still as he tried to think of what they might possibly be. As he watched the pair, a smaller version of the strange winged horses pushed forward from behind them and trotted out a ways towards Harry. The adult creatures whickered at what could only be a baby version of them and Harry nearly cringed as the sound they produced wasn't exactly pleasant.

Apparently, the baby creature didn't listen to its minders any better than a human child would when overly curious, as the gangly thing continued to move closer to where Harry was standing in the middle of Hagrid's former home. Not wanting to appear intimidating, least the two adult creatures attack in defense of the little one, Harry slowly moved to the edge of the ruins and sat down on the stone steps that once led to Hagrid's front door with his hands in plain sight. The baby paused and glanced nervously back at the two adults before trotting several feet closer, it's wings twitching much like Harry's often did when he was nervous.

"You're a brave little boy, or girl, aren't you?" Harry asked softly. "Wish I knew what you were; it would be easier to know what to expect because for all I know you're only interested in getting closer to me because I look like a tasty snack." The sound of Harry's voice must have fueled the baby's curiosity because not a minute after Harry had finished speaking the creature had dashed right up to him and stopped just out of reach.

Now that he could see it up close, the animal looked like a strange cross between a dragon and a winged horse with scaly skin that had absolutely no fur. Its wings reminded Harry sharply of Norbert's wings (or possibly a bat's wings) as they appeared thin and leathery rather than feathered (like a winged horse's wings). Its mane was made up of short, thick, coarse hairs that stuck out stiffly from its neck. The long hairs of its tail were just as thick and coarse and probably would have stuck out like its mane if not for the fact that each strand was nearly two feet in length. Its eyes were an unsettling luminous white with no pupils and far more intelligent than Harry had expected them to be. A casual glance towards the underside of the animal revealed the baby to be a little girl.

"A girl, well I suppose you could be considered beautiful for whatever it is you are," Harry murmured as he slowly lifted his hand out palm upwards (his fingers carefully held together); curious to see if she would come any closer. He took his eyes off of her for only a split second to note that the two adults had finally stepped out from beneath the shadows of the forest before glancing back at the filly. "It looks like your parents are a little worried that I might be trouble."

The little girl snorted and danced on her hooves before she reached forward and snuffled at Harry's hand. Hardly daring to breathe, Harry held his hand still and prayed he wasn't about to lose any fingers as the filly inched two steps closer. A second later, Harry had a handful of muzzle as the baby nuzzled his hand and he marveled at the unexpected coolness of her skin as it felt much like snakeskin, only smoother since it lacked scales. He let his fingers tickle and scratch her chin and in no time at all she was crowding in closer to him and rubbing her face up and down on his chest as he stroked and scratched her neck.

The two adults moved close enough that Harry could see them clearly not long after that (though they remained well out of reach) and Harry caught a brief glimpse of razor sharp incisors and canines when one of them cried out a second time; a clear indication that these horse-like creatures were not herbivores. It made him all the more conscious of just how close he'd potentially come to losing a finger or two by offering his hand to the baby that was enjoying the attention he was lavishing on her. The other thing that Harry noted about the two adults was that they appeared to be far older than he'd originally thought as their black hide was turning gray in a number of places.

"The stars foretold you would one day return; Child Torn from Time," A deep, gravely voice declared and Harry jerked his head around with frightened eyes to find a grizzled old centaur staring at him from the center of what had once been Hagrid's pumpkin patch. "Do not be alarmed, neither I nor the thestrals will harm you. None of those that have taken refuge in the forest would harm the last mage."

"Thestrals? Last mage? Child Torn from Time? I don't understand… Who… May I ask you who you are?"

"The youngling that is so infatuated with you is called a thestral; she is only one of three foals born to the dwindling thestral herd in the last century (all born within these last three years) and the hope of her entire race along with the older two young males. I am called Obduro, as my sire and my sire's sire were called before me. And I am the last centaur as you are the last of the race of humans known as mages or as the humans once called themselves; wizards."

"The last…? You mean there are no other wizards anywhere? No witches? But… but I know humans that have traces of magic… they may be squibs but they still possess magic."

"Magic began dying when the stars fell silent and the other humans killed the wizards out of fear. The earth wept and the heavens remained dark for many decades until a single star foretold that the Child of Prophecy would one day return to us. A child who had been torn from time and sent across the ages to save those that remained," Obduro rasped before he coughed harshly, his health obviously in decline. "I had feared that I would join my ancestors amongst the stars before you were found. Long have the centaurs watched and waited for you so that you might claim your legacy and save those that were left behind least we fade from the world for all eternity."

"I have healing potions… is there something I can do for you to ease your pain?"

"Potions can not cure old age though your offer warms my heart because it means you hold none of the old prejudices my sire and my memories told me your kind once held for those not of human descent."

"Is there nothing I can do to help you?"

"If you truly wish to help; promise me that you will care for those who need you," Obduro rumbled as he gestured to the filly still nuzzling Harry. "Your magic is all that stands between the last of the children of those who were left behind and certain death."

"How is that even possible? Don't magical creatures have magic of their own?"

"Yes, but unlike wizards we are not born with magical cores. We draw our magic from the world around us and without any human mages to feed their magic to the earth we've slowly been starving. These past three years there has been more magic in the air than there was during my sire's entire lifetime and is the sole reason why many of the refugees that hid in the once flourishing forest have given birth to a record number of children over the last three years. Yet it is not enough for those of us who are at the end of our lives; such as the phoenix on your shoulder. When the steady flow of magic cut off abruptly last autumn we feared that you had been lost to us until the magic returned stranger than ever this past spring and the heavens grew brighter in anticipation of the day you would walk the hallowed grounds of your ancestors once more."

"Three years? I woke up on a beach in Japan three years ago… wait… did you just say that Fawkes is dying?"

"Yes. He does not have enough magic left to fuel his rebirth after having brought you to us," Obduro solemnly stated with a grave nod before he broke into another coughing fit. "He too has long waited here for your return and the moment he heard you call upon him, he sacrificed more than half of his magic to bring you here so that the others might live."

"Things are all so confusing, up until Fawkes dragged me back here I didn't even know I was still in the world I was born in; I thought Padfoot had sent me to a completely different world. Then I learn that I was actually shoved through time while the world went insane after I disappeared which resulted in all magical beings and creatures being hunted down by muggles like rapid wolves. And now you're telling me that not only am I the _only_ wizard left on Earth but I'm the _only_ one standing between a future for an untold number of magical creatures and complete and utter extinction?"

"It is a painful burden we must bear to keep magic's legacy alive."

"I can't make any promises that I can do what you are asking me to do," Harry stated in a pained voice as he slowly rose to his feet and nearly got knocked over by the filly before he steadied himself. "I am only one person and I don't know much of anything about caring for magical creatures (not counting the few creatures I learned about in class) but I can promise to at least try. I think the world would be a poorer place if there were no magical creatures in it."

"Then I can rest easy knowing that I have fulfilled my duty," Obduro intoned as he pulled a thick tome from a bag that hung across his back and pushed the heavy book into Harry's hands. "This is a written record of the creatures still living in the forest as well as a record of those that were lost through the years. I do not know if there are other survivors in other magical forests around the world but I have diligently kept track of the numbers here as my sire and his sire before me did when they were called Obduro and it was their duty to guard magic's legacy."

"What will happen to you now?"

"I will return to my home and die knowing that I fulfilled my duty despite also knowing my death will mean the end of all centaurs."

"You know… humans can create life. Not just in the normal sense but with their science they can bring forth life without needing both the male and female of any species. I don't know if it would work for magical beings and creatures but it couldn't hurt to try. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you are willing to take a chance, you might not have to be the last centaur to ever walk this world."

"I will need to consult the stars for your words have stirred a long dead dream inside of me," Obduro replied slowly after staring at Harry for nearly eight minutes in stunned shock. "I will return at sunrise next to give you an answer."

Harry watched the centaur slowly trot away and Harry felt his heart ache for all that had been lost because of the foolish actions of three power hungry wizards. He glanced down at the filly that had curled up at his feet and fallen asleep and simply watched her breathe for a few minutes. Harry then groaned as he realized that his brothers were currently on their way to get him. A soft trill from Harry's shoulder let him know the phoenix was once again awake and Harry knew that he couldn't just walk away from the creatures that so obviously needed him. This wasn't something he could pass along to someone else because if what the centaur had said was true; then Harry truly was the only one that could save the remaining magical creatures.

Glancing down at the book he still held in his hands (absently noting that the cover had been made from tree bark and the pages from pressed wood pulp and plant fibers); Harry sighed, sat back down, opened it up, and skimmed through the foreword at the front of the book (frowning as he read through the information written about ley lines) before he flipped to the last entry at the back of the book. He felt his breath catch as he noted the date of the entry before he tore his eyes away from the damning numbers to read what Obduro had written.

Once he finished reading that small section, he began skimming backwards through the rest of the entries and felt his heart grow heavy as he noted just how many creatures had died through the years and how many species no longer existed as far as Obduro knew. He did feel a little lighter knowing that there were still a few unicorns and that there was a trio of hippogriffs left in the forest but the knowledge that so few of them remained still hurt. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that there was still a small colony of acromantula living in the forest but supposed that they had just as much right to live as any other creature.

It didn't take long for Harry to get lost in the tome of records as he flipped through the pages. It wasn't until the napping filly woke up and forcefully sought his attention that he pulled his nose out of the book and absently scratched the young thestral as he glanced at his watch to find that he'd missed lunch completely. Seeing that it had been nearly eight hours since he'd sent off his patronus, Harry glanced up at the sky to see if he could see one of the Gundams, a plane, or something. When he found nothing but blue sky, a few sparrows, and a handful of scattered white clouds, Harry sagged in despair as he'd hoped they would have gotten his message and started looking for him by now.

He closed the book he'd been skimming through at that point and stared at the cover for several long minutes. The words of the centaur proclaiming him as the last wizard echoed through his mind as the enormity of what he'd promised the ancient being hit him hard. Tightening his grip on the magical census, Harry felt a wave of panic wash through him at the mere thought of being responsible for an entire world. He tasted bile as his stomach threatened to unload itself and he swallowed thickly as he beat back the need to vomit alongside the anxiety. No matter how daunting the job he'd just been tasked with by Obduro, he had to at least try; he owed it to the innocent creatures and beings that suffered due to the actions of his kind.

After a few minutes of indecision, Harry called forth another patronus and gave it a new message to pass along to his brothers, "Guys, there's something that's come up… I… I don't know how close you are or if you even got my first message but well… I don't think I can come home just yet. I can explain better once you get here since I doubt you'll just turn around and go home without at least attempting to drag me with you but well… It'll be easier to show you when you get here. If you don't find me before the sun sets, then I will set off some fireworks to mark my position and hope you will see them. If I don't see you before eight p.m. this evening, then I will assume that you never got my first message and will send you another to give you more information."

Harry watched the stag speed away, absently noting that the two adult thestrals had moved closer and watched the stag as well. He then spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the filly frolicking about while he kept one eye on the sky for any sign of his brothers and the other on his watch to mark the passing time. The minutes began to crawl with agonizing slowness as the sun neared the horizon and each minute that passed without any evidence that his brothers were coming for him unearthed another old insecurity.

It didn't help that he'd spent the past three days being hit with blow after blow while trapped in the one place that had been both hell and home for him for four agonizingly wonderful years of pain and pleasure. Old memories, most of them rather painful, had been dredged up from the depths of his sub consciousness and only added to uncertainty and he couldn't help the seeds of doubt that sprouted in his heart. _Were his brothers happy that he'd disappeared? Were the others pleased that they were no longer burdened with his presence? Were they actually celebrating the fact that he was gone?_

Shaking his head, Harry sharply told himself to stop tormenting himself; his brothers had risked worse than a blind trip from the Arabian Peninsula to Scotland to save him or protect him. He knew they cared about him; they had shown him time and time again just how much they cared for him over the past year. His fears then veered sharply in the other direction. _Did his messages even reach his brothers? Were his brothers still alive? Had they been captured once again? Was he really in the same world or could this just be some sick illusion that Dumbledore had trapped him in the moment Fawkes returned him? Had the last three years actually been nothing more than an elaborate vision intended to torment him? Did his family actually exist or had they been nothing more than a fevered dream created by his fractured mind?_

Before he could descend into a complete panic, a comforting trill from the sleepy Fawkes soothed Harry's anxiety and allowed him to get a grip on his out of control imagination. As soon as his fears receded the phoenix nuzzled his neck fondly before he drifted back to sleep. Taking a deep breath, the teenaged wizard took a few minutes to center his emotions before he checked the position of the sun and noted that night was rapidly falling as the sky continued to darken. Realizing that there was a chance that they hadn't been able to locate him due to the magic surrounding Hogwarts, Harry pulled out the trunk filled with the countless boxes of magical junk he'd collected and began hunting for the ones he'd taken from the twins' store so he could dig out some of the fireworks he recalled packing up.

It ended up taking him nearly forty-five minutes to find the box he'd packed the fireworks in and then another ten minutes to set up one of the larger rockets that was labeled 'deluxe dragon'. Once he managed to launch the rocket, he finally noticed that the sun had long since set but figured his brothers wouldn't complain too loudly since he hadn't been too terribly late. On the plus side, Harry wouldn't need to set off another firework because the huge neon green dragon that had exploded into existence wouldn't fade for another eight hours (according to the adverts on the box the firework had been packaged inside). As he lit the surrounding area with several soft globes of light, he only hoped the dragon didn't wonder off too far or otherwise his brothers would miss him completely.

It turned out that Harry needn't have bothered with the fireworks to pinpoint his location as the mental connection he shared with Zero and Wolfstar slammed back into existence quite unexpectedly about thirty-eight minutes after he'd set off the dragon. He was nearly overwhelmed by the agitation that flowed through the link but he quickly scolded the childish suit to calm it down before giving it the mental equivalent of a comforting hug. He realized the suit was just distressed by the disruption of their bond (as much as an artificial being could be distressed) but he couldn't allow the suit to bombard him like that, least the sentient suit take it as a sign of weakness and make an attempt to take over his mind once more.

An hour after he reconnected with Wolfstar, the shrunken suit dropped down out of the sky and latched onto Harry as a familiar trio of mobile suits landed on the former Quidditch pitch (the flattest place on the castle grounds). The arrival of the suits ended up spooking the thestrals and the two adults instinctively fled back into the forest while the little filly crowded up against Harry. Fawkes stirred for a moment on his shoulder but didn't wake and Harry felt a pang of grief shoot through him at the blunt reminder that the phoenix was nearing the end of his life. His earlier anger at the mythical bird for taking him away from his family and refusing to take him home long gone in the wake of everything he'd learned from the portraits and the centaur.

"What did you do to irritate your brothers now, Taliesin?" Takoda called out as he walked up to Harry while another three members of Harry's squad spread out to secure the perimeter and search for hostiles. The pilots of the other two suits stayed in their suits in order to send their current coordinates and potential safe landing zones to the plane carrying Harry's brothers.

"Trouble found me like it usually does," Harry called back with a pained laugh as he gave the thestral a few reassuring pats while the pilot curiously studied the sleeping phoenix on Harry's shoulder. He then glanced towards those that were checking out the grounds and raised his voice as he ordered, "Do not enter the forest, do not wander out of my line of site, and whatever you do, don't shoot or kill _any_thing no matter what you see."

Once Harry was certain that the other three wouldn't be in any danger and wouldn't accidentally wipe out any magical creatures, he turned his attention back to Takoda as the nineteen year old asked, "So that's the critter that kicked the hornet's nest three days ago, huh?"

"Yeah… turns out he'd been waiting on me to call him for a few years at least. How far out are my brothers and who all is coming with them? Oh and what are they flying? There aren't that many safe places they can land around here. Damn, I hope they don't try to land in the lake; they might cause problems for the creatures living in there. Hold on, I better contact them. Keep an eye on sleeping beauty here for me, will you?"

Harry passed the sleeping phoenix to Takoda without waiting for a reply and restored Wolfstar before quickly scrambling up into the cockpit to talk to his brothers, taking the time to give Wolfstar a few reassuring pats to let him know he had missed him as well. Two minutes later, Harry was being chastised by all five brothers at once as they talked over and around each other on their laptops.

"Are the five of you quite finished now or do I have to turn the radio off and give you an hour to calm down?" Harry inquired with a touch of exasperation as he stared at them over the top of his glasses after giving them a few minutes to vent. "I told I'd tell you what happened and what I'd learned when you got here and it's easier to show you the problem while I explain. Now, what are you flying in on and where are you intending to land? The ecosystem here is in an extremely fragile state and even a single death could well send an entire species into extinction because there are only one of some of these guys still around."

"We're in the original shuttle that you had warded and there's a lake…" Heero began only for Harry to cut him off.

"Absolutely not! The lake is home to dozens of dying species and introducing any pollutants into their ecosystem could see them all wiped out in an instant. There should be some overgrown train tracks about eight miles south of the castle ruins, you can land on those; they should be flat enough and there should be a long enough stretch of level land to pull it off. I can send Wolfstar to pick… I guess not, he's growling at me. I can ask the guys to go pick you up once you land."

"Alright… we'll be there in about forty-five minutes," Trowa replied after glancing away from the screen for a moment.

"Oh and Taliesin… nice touch with da dragon," Duo drawled as he sent Harry a stunning picture of the glittering firework dragon that had been taken by one of the many satellites orbiting the earth.

Harry laughed as he admired the photo for a minute before he stated, "I'll see you guys in a bit. I'd stick around longer but I need to go collect the phoenix from Takoda before the bird thinks I've abandoned him and he gets upset with me." That of course set his brothers off as they were worried the bird would take off with Harry a second time only for Harry to yell at them in return this time.

"Enough! He didn't drag me up here to hurt me or rip me away from you guys; he brought me here because I am needed here. He's dying guys… he's a magical creature known for living thousands upon thousands of years, a species that is considered practically immortal, and _he's dying_. All of them are dying. The unicorns, the winged horses, the pixies… Hell there's only one centaur left and he's probably not going to last more than a day or two because he's so old and he's sick. He wouldn't even allow me to help him. Hundreds of other magical creatures and beings have already become extinct; they're gone. That's it, that's all, there ain't no more. Just g-o-n-e; gone."

There was complete silence as Harry cut off and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he shook beneath the onslaught of his volatile emotions for a moment. Once he'd calmed down a bit, Harry continued in a much softer tone, "I'm certain these past few days were almost as hard on you as they have been on me and I should not have yelled but there is far more at stake here than you know. I've been hit with shock after shock since the moment Fawkes carried me away and I was hit with the biggest one of all only a few hours after I sent my first patronus message. I… I'll see you guys in a bit."

Harry cut the connection and spent a moment reassuring Wolfstar that he wasn't angry with the suit before he dropped down out of the cockpit. He was bowled over seconds later by a frantic thestral and nearly had several tufts of hair pulled out by an equally upset phoenix. Sighing, Harry spent several minutes reassuring both creatures as Takoda watched him with a bemused look on his face.

"Can you take Brian and Haddock with you to go pick up the others from the southern side of the castle in about a half an hour? Better yet, can one of you head that way now and light up the overgrown train tracks that sit about eight miles south of the castle so they will have an easier time landing? The three of you can then bring them back with you because as much as I'd love to make them walk, just to give them time to cool their tempers, I think it would only serve to annoy them more."

"There's never a dull minute with you around, you know that Taliesin? One quick question… what exactly is that horse-like creature supposed to be?"

"She's something called a thestral but beyond that I couldn't tell you since I never knew such creatures existed until today. She's one of three babies born in the last three years and apparently the only hope for her species as she's the only female in her generation."

"The only…? Can't you just clone a few?"

"There's no guarantee that cloning would work for magical creatures," Harry softly explained as he ran his fingers through the small thestral's stiff mane as she leaned heavily against him and chewed on his shirt. "If it works, great, but I'd still need viable D.N.A. samples from which to work and it's not like I can just walk down to the nearest pet store to pick up a couple of thestrals or unicorns or dragons to run endless tests on."

"That does make it a bit more difficult. Wait… what… did you say dragons?"

"They're extinct. The last one died well over two hundred years ago according to the records I was given."

"Who gave you the records? I didn't see anyone else when we first arrived and I could have sworn that your earlier message said there wasn't anything living 'round here."

"I didn't know there was anyone or anything still alive in the forest when I sent my first message. And it was an old centaur who explained to me that the various magical creatures living here have been steadily dying out; a dying centaur who also just happens to be the last of his kind."

"That's depressing," Takoda murmured.

"If cloning works on magical beings, and he is willing, centaurs will be one of the first I work to bring back in honor of all that they did to save as many as they could."

Nothing further was said between the two of them as Takoda returned to Dogstar in order to carry out Harry's' earlier request while Harry struggled to free his shirt from the apparently teething thestral. Harry ended up conjuring a piece of ice for the filly in exchanged for his shirt hem and the teen had a good laugh over the antics of the filly as the young thestral got the ice stuck to the tip of her nose and began dancing about and making funny faces as she tried to get it off. He glanced up a minute later as the three suits headed south to light up the tracks so the others could land even as the familiar shuttle cruised by overhead before it banked south and east as it prepared to land.

While they were gone, Harry checked on the location of the three pilots patrolling the area and conjured several more globes of light before he dropped into his food storage and dug out a trio of five pound packs of ground beef to see if the thestral was hungry because the two adult thestrals had not yet returned and it didn't appear as if the filly planned to leave his side any time soon. As soon as he returned to the surface and opened the first packet, the little filly began salivating and dancing about him eagerly as she tried to snatch the entire pack out of his hands. He had to hip check her a couple of times to get her to settle down so that he could conjure a small wooden trough that he broke the ground meat up into so she wouldn't eat the packaging or his fingers in her apparent haste.

It was more than a little disturbing to see a creature that looked so much like a horse gobbling down clumps of raw meat but he supposed it wasn't much different than watching the snakes eat rodents and at least she wasn't demanding live prey like the snakes often did. She'd only worked her way through about two pounds of ground beef from that first pack when the suits landed once more on the pitch and a large group of people (far more than Harry expected) bore down on him (including the three that had been checking the area for threats).

All sixteen people stumbled to a stop when they caught sight of Harry feeding the thestral raw meat before they shook off the oddity and continued forward to hug him (Cathy and Quatre), slap him on the back (Wufei, Abdul, and Zechs), slap him upside the back of the head (Heero, Duo, and Trowa), or verbally greet him (the rest of his squad).

"What exactly is that?" Heero asked after everyone had finished greeting Harry.

"She's a thestral and the future of an entire species as she's the only female of her generation. There are two males slightly older than her somewhere in the forest but I haven't seen them yet. All three of them are the first thestrals born in over a hundred years."

"Where exactly are we?" Zechs asked as he glanced around at the ruined castle and the cottage they were standing beside.

Harry broke up the last of the meat from the package he'd opened and dropped it for the thestral before he vanished the packaging and cleaned his hands off with a quick spell. He then strode a few feet away and swept his arm out dramatically in the direction of the moonlit ruins of the castle as he turned to face his friends and family and grandly intoned, "Please allow me to bid you welcome to Crystal Valley* and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; once known as the finest magical school in all of Europe."

"Hogwarts…? Wait… didn't you…? Wasn't that…? How is that even possible?" Cathy spluttered as she looked up at the darkened castle only to gasp and press her hands to her mouth as she took in the obviously less than perfect condition of said castle. "What happened?"

"Harry?" Trowa called softly when Harry's entire demeanor folded in on itself and he dejectedly walked back to where the thestral was licking the wooden trough clear of all the scraps and began breaking up another package of ground beef.

"The wizarding world was torn apart from the inside out by Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Voldemort after I vanished when they started an all out war against each other in their efforts to rule the world. It was then systematically destroyed from the outside by the muggles that they'd angered with their egotistical efforts to destroy one another," Harry began in a voice thick with suppressed emotion as he finished crumbling the pack of meat and cleaned his hands a second time.

"Some twenty years or so after my godfather sent me away with whatever magical device he'd found or cobbled together… close to eight thousand men, women, and children (all witches and wizards) were cornered here at Hogwarts; their last refuge from the ravages of war. They were then imprisoned and subsequently executed for the crime of being born magical by the muggles that had been hunting them for at least ten years due to the actions of a handful of magical terrorists. By the time another ten years passed all but a handful of witches and wizards had been exterminated like vermin and since then magic has been slowly fading and vanishing from the world."

Harry paused and glanced up to meet the concerned gazes of those who'd come to rescue him, his mismatched eyes filled with pain, anger, grief, and unshed tears as he continued, "Magical creatures and beings were also relentlessly hunted during that period of time. Hogwarts, or what is left of it, only remains standing because the castle sits on the nexus of some fifteen ley lines that run through Scotland. It is for that reason alone that the surviving magical creatures from all over this part of the world began gathering here to hide from those that hunted them."

"This book holds a written record of the steady decline of all magical species due to the endless persecution by muggles and the slow starvation caused by the vanishing magic," Harry added as he brandished the book of records entrusted to him by Obduro. "It was given to me by an ancient centaur who is the only one of his kind left in this world – unless by some miracle there are more scattered about the world but Obduro seemed certain he was the very last of his kind."

"My godfather didn't find a way to send me to a new world; he sent me forward in time and all this time… after holding onto the hope that my old friends still lived on somewhere… I find out they've been dead for ages and long since forgotten by the world and I wasn't there for them when they needed me. Everything, or nearly everything, an entire society wiped off the face of the Earth and the cold, hard truth of what happened to them long since stricken from the history books. I think I much preferred to believe that I'd ended up in some fantastical new world."

"The records in this book start in the year two thousand seventeen and the latest entry, written by Obduro the Third just three days earlier, is dated for July thirty-first, two thousand four hundred sixty-four. Four hundred and sixty-six years; my godfather threw me four hundred and sixty-six years into the future." Harry gave a bitter laugh as he glanced down at the book in his hands and reflexively tightened his grip on the tome as the bitter truth hit him full force once more.

"You know I never stopped wanting to believe that somewhere in this world there were wizards and witches hiding away and that one day I'd find them. In case you're wondering; there aren't. I am the last wizard. I am the only mage, as Obduro called me, in the entire world and according to him I am the only one standing between the last of the magical creatures and certain extinction. If I die, they die; because only a mage can breathe new magic back into the earth because mages are the only magical beings born with a magical core capable of producing magic."

"Apparently ley lines don't draw magic from the Earth's core and spread that magic throughout the known world as wizards once believed; they actually draw magic from the air and water and funnel it into the Earth where it is absorbed by the plants which in turn are eventually eaten by various creatures who are in turn eaten by other creatures, providing magical creatures with the magic they so desperately need to survive. It is human mages that produce the magic the ley lines draw upon; magic that witches and wizards breathe into the world with every breath they take and every spell they cast. Something that wasn't discovered until long after the last wizard died according to the foreword found at the beginning of this journal."

"The very air here is practically saturated with magic because the ley line nexus here (one of the largest nexuses in the world) has been drawing every last drop of errant magic it could draw from the world over the past four centuries. All of the magic I've cast over the last three years (while on earth) has also been drawn to places like Hogwarts. If not for the nexus, the remaining wards around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade would have collapsed hundreds of years earlier due to the magic being pulled from them by other nexuses. Another ten to twenty years probably would have seen them beginning to fail anyway if not for the sudden influx of my magic starting from three years earlier."

"What exactly does all of that mean for you?" Zechs asked while he eyed the juvenile thestral as she finished licking the trough clean a second time before she tried digging into Harry's pocket where he'd tucked the last pack of ground beef.

"Aside from the fact that I'm going to have to either clone myself or find a woman willing to tolerate me long enough to hopefully father a few little witches and wizards to breathe new magic into the world because eventually I'm going to grow old and die as well? I don't have a fucking clue. Obduro asked me to promise him I'd take care of the creatures and I promised I would try. Science and cloning might help bring the populations of those that are on the verge of extinction back from the brink but that is only if it is possible to clone that which makes a magical creature or being magical."

"Why would that prevent ya from comin' home?" Duo asked with a frown. "I mean… couldn't ya work from home where ya'd have access ta everything ya might need?"

"I could… but they can't," Harry replied as he gestured to the thestral still nosing his pocket, the phoenix sleeping on his shoulder, and the glittering eyes of small number of creatures that had been drawn to the edge of the forest by Harry's earlier uses of magic and the disturbances created by the mobile suits. "Taking them away from the gathered magic here would kill them within days and I can't exactly take care of them properly from a distance."

"Why do you have to take care of them? I mean, they've been doing just fine on their own for years. Couldn't they get by without you for several more while you continue to use your magic from wherever you are?" Wufei logically inquired.

"They haven't been surviving entirely on their own; the centaurs dedicated their lives to helping as many of the creatures survive as possible. Even if the adults of each species could survive on their own, most of them are old and at the end of their lifespan and the young would be defenseless if their parents died before they could grow up. Babies like this little filly wouldn't have a chance on their own; they'd become spider food the instant they tried to walk through the forest alone. And yes, there are still a number of giant spiders in there according to the records; even if they aren't anywhere near as large or as numerous as the ones I encountered in my second year. They have thrived in comparison to the other species because they will eat anything that they come across that can't fight them off."

"May I see the journal?" Wufei asked after taking a moment to digest Harry's reply.

Harry passed over the book without hesitation before he addressed the entire group softly, "I never expected something like this to be dropped into my lap but I wouldn't feel right just walking away from the responsibility knowing there is no one else out there who could take up the slack. And maybe everything the five of you have taught me over the last year will increase my chances of success here because there's no way in hell I will be able to do it all with magic alone. Just because I stay here though, doesn't mean that I won't ever see you guys or can't help you when you need me too. It's just… this is my legacy, to borrow the centaur's words, and if I don't at least try to save it; then it will all disappear in a few short years and it would have been my fault."

"What can we do to help?" Brian asked as he reached out and ran a hand over the back of the filly making her startle and turn around to eye him nervously; the older man speaking for Harry's entire squad. "We told you before we'll follow where you lead and I seriously doubt that you'll be able to do everything that needs to be done all by yourself."

"Any of you know how to build a barn or repair a broken magical castle?" Harry asked with a small smile of appreciation.

* * *

**Translations:** Latin to English

Obduro – to be hard, persist, endure, last, hold out. (I thought it a fitting name for the last three male centaurs that had lived their out lives to fulfill their duty to the other creatures of the forest.)

**Notes:**

*Crystal Valley – I was originally going to call the large valley where Hogwarts and Hogsmeade could be found the Valley of the Hogs (in order to keep with the 'hog' theme of the castle and the village) but each time I wrote that out I felt like I lost another brain cell because it sounded so stupid. So, I dove back into Arthurian Legend and stumbled upon a reference to Merlin's Crystal Cave and thought it would be appropriate to call the valley Crystal Valley as a tribute from the Founders to Merlin since they would have been after his time and would have potentially held him in high regards.

Just to be clear; in this story Merlin's cave is _not_ in Crystal Valley, Hogwarts is _not_ Camelot, Hogwarts is also _not_ Avalon, and the _only _link Hogwarts has to anything related to Merlin is the fact that it is a _magical_ school and that the Founders held the mage in high esteem.

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**AN:** _And now we know exactly when Harry ended up… specifics on why he ended up that far into the future will turn up in later chapters. We also find that Harry isn't the only magical survivor even if he is the only wizard left; there are squibs after all as we've seen with the five pilots. The reason why there are squibs but no full wizards or witches (even weak ones) will also be explained a few chapters down the road. _

_As for my logic in determining which species of magical creatures survived; I based it upon size, magical needs, and diet. Dragons are huge and require lots of food so naturally they would be harder to sustain than a magical spider. Those creatures that ate other magical creatures would also live longer because they would be surviving off of the other creatures. I also tried to take into consideration with lifespan of each species with the longer lived creatures enduring longer simply because they lived longer. _

_We also now know what it was that affected Harry when he left Earth's atmosphere and when he finally touched back down upon the Earth when they returned. It was the connection between his magical core and the Earth. I know you're probably sick of hearing me say this but more information on cores, connections, and souls will be visited in later chapters so I won't say anymore here. _

_Harry is also being forced to face the fact that his noble and selfish intentions of avoiding romantic entanglements are futile. The individual that I chose to play his counter part in this story will be properly introduced in the chapter after next and all I will say is that she is a canon character from the GW Verse. Those of you who were hoping that I might have brought someone else from the HP world forward; I'm sorry, Harry is the only HP canon character alive in the future. The fates of his old friends, family, and enemies will be revealed in later chapters. _

_In the mean time, I'll wish everyone a happy holiday and thank you in advance for your reviews as I'll not be posting anything else until after the twenty-fifth and probably won't even sneak on to read until afterwards either. The good news is that the twenty-sixth is only four days away. Anyway, the next chapter will address how Harry plans to handle his new responsibility and what part the other pilots will play in preserving Harry's legacy. It's mostly an informational chapter, unfortunately, but it's important information. It is a rather short chapter though, so hopefully it won't be too tedious. _

_Anywho… hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you again in four days! ~ Jenn_


	36. Rebuilding the Future

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 35: Rebuilding the Future

The next couple of hours were spent cleaning and repairing the Great Hall so they would have a secure place to camp for the night. The first thing they did was clear out all of the garbage and debris that was cluttering up the once grand dining room. The remains of the damaged tables, chairs, and benches (all of which were too far damaged to repair) had been stacked off to one side out in the courtyard so Harry could use them to fuel a magical fire or two at some point in the hopes of drawing a few fire salamanders or an ashwinder or two. The centaurian census records were unclear on whether or not those two particular magical species had survived (magical fires rather difficult to produce when magic was in short supply).

As Harry and the others worked, the little thestral filly dutifully followed Harry every where he went; constantly trying to get at the meat Harry was still carrying around with him. Harry ended up passing the ground beef to Cathy and asking her to feed the young thestral, after warning her to be careful of the filly's teeth, just so he wouldn't keep tripping over the persistent creature. Once the room had been emptied of debris, Harry used magic to clean the walls and floor of mildew, old spider webs, and blood stains (the last making him more than a little ill).

He then repaired the chipped stones of the walls and floor, fixed the broken windows, cleaned and repaired the iron wall sconces as best he could, and lit a handful of magical torches he'd gathered from other sections of the castle to make it easier to see. The doors leading into the interior of the castle were too far damaged to be repaired so Harry replaced them with a couple of the less damaged doors he pulled from elsewhere in the castle.

When they'd finished cleaning up the hall, Harry propped open one of the two doors to the courtyard so that the thestral could leave if the adult pair returned for her. He then cast a series of low level protective wards and charms to prevent any of the less friendly magical creatures drawn by his magic and the commotion their arrival caused from sneaking into the hall if their intent was to cause trouble or harm. That of course, didn't prevent those that meant no harm from entering the hall either to seek shelter or to study the first humans to step foot in Crystal Valley in over four centuries.

The first to work up the courage to enter the castle was a small flock of feral postal owls that were most likely the descendants of the school's old owls. The owls were predominantly barn owls with a few spectacled owls and some of the smaller hawk owls mixed in. All of the owls, of which there were only about thirty, were rather on the small side and looked as if they'd not been eating well. He was slightly saddened to find not even one snowy owl amidst the group but he supposed it was unrealistic of him to think there would have been any since Hedwig had been the only snowy at the school during the years he'd attended. Most wizards had avoided the brightly colored owls because they were far too noticeable; one of the reasons that she'd been picked out for Harry but he'd loved her anyway.

Harry, once he could coax a few of them down out of the rafters beneath the enchantment free ceiling (the enchantments long since having ceased functioning), treated them for internal and external parasites and common avian ailments and diseases. He then brought out a bunch of the mice and rats that he once stocked in his supply trunk for Seth while they were in space (having never bothered transferring the colonies out of his trunk) and was soon surrounded eagerly by all of the owls. Once all of the owls had eaten at least one rodent each and been given a cursory health check, they returned to the rafters and Harry set up a few quick spells to automatically vanish any waste the birds expelled while they were in the Great Hall.

The little thestral tried snatching an owl or two out of the air but Harry quickly (if gently) flicked her on the nose to discourage her from eating the birds (not yet aware that owls were one of the thestrals' natural prey). Even if he had known, Harry wouldn't have allowed the youngling to eat any of the owls since there were so few of them to begin with. The moment the owls were out of reach (the filly still too young to fly) she promptly ignored them again as she searched Harry's pockets for more food. Not knowing how much a thestral her age could safely eat (or how much of her skeletal appearance was natural and how much was starvation induced) Harry decided that fifteen pounds of ground beef had been enough until at least the morning when he could see if her minders had returned.

The owls had barely settled themselves back on the rafters when a scraggly kneazle (the cat's tufted tail an indication that it was a pure kneazle and not of mixed heritage) entered the hall carrying a single kitten in her mouth. She walked right up to where Harry was sitting on the floor and stared at him with bright gold-orange eyes before she dumped the kitten in his lap and left again. The reason for her seeming abandonment became clear when she repeated the process twice more before joining her kittens and making a nest out of Harry's lap. Harry half expected to see a male kneazle following in her wake but after noting how old the mother looked he wondered if the father of her kittens had passed recently or if they tended to wander off like most male cats did once they'd fathered their kittens.

By the time Harry fell asleep that night, he was surrounded by a small hoard of magical creatures with many more occupying various corners of the Great Hall. Even some of the other teens and adults present found themselves being used as temporary beds (after a thorough inspection by the creatures) by a few that couldn't find room on or near Harry. In fact, there were so many animals crowded around the small eighteen year old that the others with him could barely see him through all of the fur, feathers, scales, and assorted limbs. There was even a pair of acromantula (no bigger than half-grown tarantulas) sleeping beside one of Harry's shoes inside of a thickly woven web to protect themselves from the other creatures. Wolfstar watched over them all with barely hidden mistrust from his self-claimed post directly above Harry's head with his shrunken hands buried in Harry's locks.

When he woke up shortly before dawn, Harry needed a good twenty minutes to extract himself out from beneath his living blanket. A number of the creatures protested at being displaced from their various perches; much to the amusement of Duo (who was currently standing watch; each of the pilots having taken a turn during the night out of habit). Once he was clear (a few persistent critters ending up as passengers in Harry's pockets, on his shoulders, and in his hair), Harry headed outside to await the arrival of Obduro.

The proud old centaur arrived with the rising sun and carried with him a pair of twin Aethonan foals (a type of winged horse) that had been born just the evening before; their mother not having survived the dual birth due to her advanced age. All of Harry's family and friends joined them a moment later, startling the aged centaur as he had not known that Harry was no longer alone.

"Obduro, honored centaur, I just realized that I forgot to properly introduce myself yesterday," Harry stated respectfully as he carefully bowed to the centaur (his passengers protesting over the movement). "Allow me to correct that oversight; I was born as Harry James Potter though these days I'm known more often as Taliesin Bard. The humans behind me are a part of my family and close friends; I trust them with my life and by extension have no fear of them harming those you have entrusted me to watch over. They are also fully aware of magic in addition to at least five of them being the squibs I spoke to you of yesterday."

"Please allow me to introduce you to my family, starting with my adopted brothers; Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton, Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang, and Quatre Winner. Next is my adopted sister who has quite often been my surrogate mother as well; Catherine Bloom. Lastly, is one of my numerous adopted uncles and don't tell him I said so but he's also one of my favorite uncles; Abdul Kurama. The rest of these ladies and gentlemen are close friends; Zechs Merquise, Haddock Cole, Brian Weaver, Takoda Jacobs, Hilde Schbeiker, Patricia Campbell, Jack Martin, Ricardo Ruiz, and Eric Wagner. A few of them will be staying here with me to help rebuild the castle and watch over the creatures. Everyone, this is Obduro; the last centaur. Though, if he is willing, I hope to change that."

"The stars were silent and expectant last night," Obduro intoned once the introductions were over. "Mars is still bright and war hovers near. I fear for my charges for they can not survive another war."

"My brothers taught me how to protect myself and others; the war will not touch those here. That I can promise you," Harry solemnly replied. He then smiled wistfully as he glanced up at the fading stars and added, "All of the planets are bright when you travel through the stars; even Earth shines in the vacuum of space."

"Mortals can not visit the planets and stars."

"But we can," Harry countered as the centaur stamped in disbelief. "I have walked on the moon and looked upon Jupiter, Mars, and Earth. I could swear on my magic if you'd like… or if you truly wanted to see with your own eyes; I could take you to see them for yourself."

"I am too old for such adventures," Obduro stated sadly after a moment, though the longing in his eyes said he wished otherwise. "Your word is enough for me young mage. Should you bring forth the children you said you might breathe life into through what you called science; then I shall see the stars through their eyes as my sire and dam still see them through mine. Only one thing worries me, my time in this world is drawing to an end; who will teach my unborn children the ways of our people? We have no written records that speak of our way of life and while we are born with the history of our forefathers in our memories, understanding requires guidance of one who has unlocked that knowledge."

"If you allow it, I can preserve a magical copy of every single memory you have so that if we are successful your children can still learn from you even if you are no longer with us. And if you have no objection, I too would be honored to learn from your memories so that I can one day tell my children of the heroic centaurs that sacrificed so much to preserve our legacy."

"Even if my children never walk this land; knowing that the knowledge and history of my kind will not pass completely from this world would be a treasure without equal."

Harry nodded solemnly, knowing just how much the centaur was trusting him with (the history of an entire species or culture no little thing after all). He then looked to his brothers for help because while he could deal with Obduro's memories, he had no clue what was needed in order to attempt to clone any being or creature. He knew the basic concept behind cloning and test-tube babies thanks to the lessons that Quatre had given him but he'd never studied it in depth.

Quatre ended up contacting his father for help since while the blonde teen knew far more than Harry did; he wasn't prepared or currently equipped to initiate the process. Zayeed in turn got them in touch with the doctor that had been involved with the creation and cloning of the Winner children and arrangements were made for the elderly man to join them on earth. While that was being done, Harry talked Obduro into allowing him to treat him with healing potions so that the aged centaur would be in optimum health when the doctor that would hopefully be helping them finally arrived.

The fact that the treatment would also extend the centaur's life for at least a couple of months if not a couple of years was a bonus in Harry's eyes. Harry also used that time to start the preparations for copying Obduro's memories; a task that would take nearly a month because there were over two thousand years worth of memories to copy, sort, and store. The majority of those memories were the inherited memories that all centaurs were born with and represented the history of the centaurs.

The older memories (those older than two hundred years) were nothing more than highlights of important events and not the day to day life of ancient centaurs; simply mere summaries and anecdotes dating back to the dawn of the first centaur herd. They were important but not as important as the memories of the lessons that had taught Obduro how to read and understand those earlier memories. Those lessons were important because they would potentially teach future centaurs how to deal with their inherited memories.

Two days after arriving, Abdul, Zechs, Wufei, Duo, and Heero returned home; Zechs back to the Sanc Kingdom and his sister (where he'd begun spending more and more of his time), Abdul to resume his duties as second in command of the Maganacs, and Harry's three brothers to resume their duties to the Freedom Fighters. Quatre, Trowa, and Cathy opted to stay (as did the rest of Harry's squad) in order to help Harry take care of the creatures and make arrangements for a magical creature reserve to be built upon the former school grounds.

Quatre would help Harry find out who owned Crystal Valley (no one since it was magically hidden – the only reason the muggles had found the refugees centuries earlier was because they'd been sold out by a few squibs and a wizard). The blonde had gone on to create an electronic paper trail that showed the land had been in Harry's family for several generations. That was to protect the land from being taken from Harry at any time in the future should the government learn of his presence before he was ready to announce himself (chances were slim but better safe than sorry).

The Winner Heir also had the most experience managing a large estate and he gladly helped Harry put together a business plan for managing the reserve, order the supplies and equipment the older teen would need to rebuild the castle (for those things that couldn't be fixed with magic), hire contractors to design and build the facilities he'd need (though most of the work would be done by the Maganacs), and write out a list of things that would be needed to be done to make the reserve successful and virtually self-sufficient.

Cathy and Trowa helped Harry take care of the numerous creatures that continued to migrate out of the forest; both of them readily accepted by the creatures. It helped that both teens were good with animals and had plenty of experience in dealing with non-domesticated animals from their experience in working with the various animals that had belonged to the circus. Cathy was especially fond of the orphaned Aethonan foals and the unicorns that had instinctively migrated towards her and the other two females in the group. Trowa didn't really have any favorites as he treated all of them with the same care he'd once used when handling the lions and tigers for the circus. His inborn talent as an animal charmer helped to put some of the older, untrusting creatures (including the recalcitrant minders of the thestral filly) at ease enough to tolerate Harry giving them any needed magical medical treatment.

Brian, Haddock, Ricardo, and Eric were the unofficial security guards of Crystal Valley as they frequently patrolled the entire valley in their mobile suits (once the remainder of the suits had been collected from the Winner Estate) keeping an eye out for potential intruders and magical creatures in need of help and/or medical attention. Takoda became the reserves official transport; Dogstar uniquely suited for hauling large amounts of supplies due to all of the extra storage cupboards that Harry had built into the suit's exterior in addition to the ones inside.

Hilde took it upon herself to maintain, upgrade, and repair all of the mobile suits belonging to the squad and the assorted equipment being brought in to rebuild the castle and other buildings (the teen rather mechanically inclined). Lastly, Jack helped Trowa deal with the injured and sick (both human and animal) since he was the only member of Harry's squad with formal medical training (Trowa and Harry both being mostly self taught). All eight pilots also readily lent a hand clearing away debris when they were on the castle grounds. Harry greatly appreciated the help from all of his companions; knowing he'd have gone crazy if he'd attempted to just take care of the animals all alone (not to mention the hundred other little things that needed to be done).

Two weeks after having the truth about what his godfather had done and what had happened to the world he left behind dumped on him, Harry and the others broke ground on what would become the veterinary clinic for all magical creatures on the reserve. The clinic would sit right up against the Forbidden Forest on the ground that Hagrid's cottage and his pumpkin patch had once sat on. Along with the main building (which would be the actual clinic) there would be three barns, an extensive kennel, a large bird coup (which would be more aerie than coup), and several paddocks to house various animals until they were ready to be released into the wild (as well as those that ended up being permanent residents of the castle).

It was an important day for Harry since the clinic was essential to his plans for repopulating the world with magical creatures; including some long extinct species if he could find intact enough remains to draw their D.N.A. from and the cloning process was compatible with the genetics that made magical creatures… well magical. That was also the day that Obduro learned about Harry's wings, since Harry had kept them hidden out of habit during the preceding weeks. Hauling away the rubble and digging through the hard, rocky ground in preparation for laying the foundation was hard, hot work though and Harry had stripped out of both his shirts (freeing his wings) in order to prevent himself from overheating.

At the time, Obduro had been tending to several of the young hoofed animals, the various equine-like creatures long considered distant kin of sorts by centaurs, when he happened to look up and catch site of Harry's wings unfurling. The curious centaur had immediately tried to get a closer look at the strange wings which had Harry yelping in indignation and shock as he still loathed having his wings touched. Obduro had immediately apologized for startling him and then grilled Harry for an hour on the origin of the wings (his memories clearly telling him that mages and other humans most certainly did not have wings).

The revelation that Harry believed his wings to be a product of accidental magic, extreme negative emotions, pure desperation, and the lingering magic in the phoenix tears and basilisk venom intrigued the centaur; especially when Fawkes confirmed that belief with a few trills and head bobs (the phoenix one of those that never left Harry's side). That in turn led to a discussion on Harry's de-aging upon arriving in the future but no answers were forth coming from either the centaur or the phoenix on why or how that had happened.

The presence of his wings was actually a big hit with the various flying creatures that had made an appearance; they especially enjoyed flying alongside Harry when he flew using his wings or his broom. Unfortunately for Harry, keeping the various creatures from climbing all over his wings when they were not safely tucked into one of his button down shirts was near impossible and the constant contact drove Harry up the wall in the beginning.

The fact that the contact was near constant, on the other hand, meant that he eventually grew desensitized to the sensation of having his wings touched to the point where he no longer flinched when anyone brushed up against them (even if he still didn't particularly like having them touched). Once that happened, he ended up allowing both Cathy and Obduro to examine them a bit closer (Cathy long curious as to what they felt like and the centaur still fascinated by them). Trowa absently commented that the desensitization of his wings to casual touch was a good thing since it meant that it would be easier to treat any future wing injuries Harry received.

The veterinary clinic was just starting to take shape when Takoda arrived from his most recent supply run with a bunch of medical equipment (anything requiring power of some sort dismantled and completely removed from their power sources until they could be warded against magic least their systems be fried) and a man that would eventually become the first official employee of said clinic. Doctor Satoshi Watanabe, one of the leading authorities in genetics and a good friend of the Winner family, would be working closely with Harry to hopefully establish a cloning program for the endangered magical creatures.

The man was a scientist through and through and he'd not wanted to believe in the existence of magic even after seeing a centaur, unicorns, thestrals, and a handful of other odd creatures with his own eyes. Harry's explanation that magic was nothing more than an inborn ability to manipulate energy and matter along with his usual demonstration helped the man to accept the idea of magic a little easier if not the label it had been given. It helped that the challenge of cloning dozens of unique species not seen by humans in over four centuries and bringing dozens more back from extinction appealed to the man's inner scientist.

The fact that there would be new genetic discoveries involved (since magic was a genetic trait – even if it was an obscure one) only helped since genetics was Dr. Watanabe's chosen field of study. Harry's reluctant agreement to allow the man a chance to study him personally (once he agreed to never create a clone of Harry without his express permission) saw the good doctor losing the last of his hesitance in accepting the position of Director of Magical Genetics for the magical creature reserve that Harry was creating (on a temporary basis at least since the man was fairly old).

The doctor's first patient was Obduro and he took numerous samples from the centaur (hair, hoof trimmings, blood, and other bodily fluids) that he then took with him back to the Winner Estate to analyze (since the equipment Harry had purchased still needed to be warded and set up before it could be used). Quatre had had another lab set up back at the estate in order to allow the doctor to start working immediately; intuitively knowing Harry wouldn't wish to have the research held up by technicalities and the lack of lab space. Thankfully, none of the samples from the centaur contained enough active magic to affect the un-warded equipment or skew the results (unlike similar samples from say a phoenix or a unicorn whose entire bodies were suffused with magic).

Half of the Maganac Corp flew in within a few days after the doctor returned to the Winner Estate in order to speed up the raising of the clinic. Harry left them to the construction of the building and instead set up a workshop in the antechamber off the Great Hall (where the Tri-Wizard Tournament champions had been sent after being selected) and began the painstaking process of warding the various medical and computer equipment for the clinic. A process made more difficult by the various creatures that insisted on following Harry; especially those like the thestrals that were drawn to the scent of fresh blood, the little female filly (whom Taliesin had named Orsa) was a particularly troublesome intruder. The silly filly had emptied more than one vial of warding blood by sticking her nose in it until Harry started using the smaller mouthed vials and charmed them to be non-spilling.

By the end of Harry's second month at Hogwarts the medical and research equipment had been warded and sat ready for installation (Harry leaving that job to the professionals). The clinic was nearly complete and Dr. Watanabe had been back twice more to run a few tests on Obduro and consult with Harry about the possibility of obtaining a second sample of centaur D.N.A. from another source. That of course led Harry to starting what could have been a highly offensive discussion with Obduro; respectfully disturbing the bones of long dead centaurs so that they might extract any traces of D.N.A. from them. Harry probably could have done so without speaking with Obduro but he felt that would have been dishonest and only give rise to resentment (something he wanted to avoid).

The centaur hesitantly agreed, providing that no one but Harry learned of where the centaurs were laid to rest and that the bones be returned to their final resting place as undamaged as possible when they were finished with them. That was how Harry learned that centaurs were 'buried' among the trees when they died so that they could be closer to the heavens; their bodies hoisted high up into the branches after being wrapped with giant magical dock leaves and acromantula silk.

Harry carefully chose nine centaurs from three different centuries that were completely unrelated to Obduro or each other and under Obduro's watchful gaze (from where he stood supervising beneath the trees) removed three bones from each centaur; a rib bone from the human-torso, a second rib from the horse-torso, and the bone from the base of the tail. The bones were carefully cataloged, packaged in special boxes, and labeled with the name, age, and death date of the centaur from which it had been taken (information that was provided by Obduro). The bones were then turned over to Dr. Watanabe with a request that they be returned as undamaged as possible (some minor damage expected due to the D.N.A. extraction process).

About that same time, there were a flurry of intense battles around the world and their small contingent was called to defend the Sanc Kingdom from OZ soldiers. OZ forces were in pursuit of a small regiment of Treize's men that had been herded into the peaceful nation's borders for the sole purpose of using their presence as an excuse to attack the small pacifist kingdom. Cathy and a couple of the Maganacs stayed behind to watch over the animals while Harry and his brothers led the rest to the Sanc Kingdom where they'd be meeting up with Zechs.

Wolfstar and Harry dealt with the OZ troops while the rest rounded up Treize's soldiers (most of whom were injured and barely in any condition to fight) and removed them to the capital of the kingdom where Relena had offered them refuge. Harry was less than pleased to be forced to deal peaceably with men who willingly followed a man he couldn't stand but he did so in order to prevent any problems from cropping up between the Sanc Kingdom and the Freedom Fighters. Once the battle was over and the threat of invasion removed, Harry was the first to leave so he could return to Crystal Valley.

He'd fully intended to return to the former school and burn off his frustration by spending a day or two blasting the shit out of whatever he could find but the moment he dropped down out of Wolfstar's cockpit, he was swarmed by a crowd of magical creatures that had missed him. Seeing those creatures that relied upon him to protect and nurture them (his magic integral to their survival) made him realize that he could no longer give into his rage whenever he felt like it. So instead of potentially laying waste to a good portion of the old school grounds, Harry spent the two days it took for the others to return clearing the stone and debris from the collapsed section of the castle.

He really should have expected it but the uncovering of the first skeleton really shocked him. He'd stopped and stared at the broken remains for nearly an hour before he shook off the shock and he felt sick at heart when he realized from the size of the bones that whoever it had been would have been in their third or fourth year if they'd been attending Hogwarts as a student. His first inclination, once he could think clearly, was to give the child a proper burial and then he paused as he glanced between his own hands and the bones of the broken child. The torn feelings between what was proper and what was needed weighed heavily on him and Harry felt a whole new level of respect for Obduro's agreement to desecrate the graves of his ancestors for the D.N.A. samples needed to make healthy clones with a full range of genetic variances.

With that in mind, Harry swallowed thickly and carefully gathered up every single bone chip and boxed them in a warded box with the date, time, and location of where he or she had been found. He then set the box well back out of the way and continued with his work. By the time the others made it back there were eighteen such boxes stacked neatly in the Entrance Hall; each one of them filled with at least one skeleton and some of them filled with multiple skeletons in the cases where more than one person had been caught beneath a section of the castle. There were two infant skeletons in the group and three more children that were under the age of ten and Harry had cried when he'd found them.

By the time the damaged section of the castle was mostly cleared out two weeks later (all but the most unstable areas being cleared), he had uncovered just over three hundred skeletons; more than two thirds of them belonging to children and young adults that would have been of an age to have been attending Hogwarts as students. The rest of the skeletons were adults and younger children that had been taking refuge inside of the castle at the time it collapsed. Harry mourned each and every life lost that day and performed a memorial rite for them to set their spirits to rest before he allowed their remains to be sent to Dr. Watanabe for carbon dating and genetic testing. He then went about finding a large, open plot of land overlooking the castle and a good portion of the valley where he could bury the witches and wizards of old once the doctor was finished with their bones.

During that time, Harry also entered the forest to seek out the nest of the acromantula to speak with the elders, hoping that they (like Aragog before them) would understand and speak human speech. Luckily for Harry, they did, even if it was far more broken and disjointed than Aragog's speech had been, making them far more difficult to understand. The treaty Harry made with the flesh-eating spiders was simple and straightforward; they were to leave magical creatures, magical beings, and all humans unmolested and release any magical creatures or beings and humans caught in their webs.

Harry in return would not wipe their species off the face of the earth and would see to it that the forest was stocked with plenty of non-magical creatures for them to consume to maintain their modest numbers (the magical plants those non-magical animals ate while living in the forest would provide more than enough magic for the colony since the magic would build up inside the creatures' bodies over time due to them not actually needing the magic). Needless to say the semi-intelligent spiders wisely chose to accept the treaty as offered after Harry demonstrated his ability to destroy a fully grown tree with a single spell.

That was also about the time that the portraits of the past Headmasters and Headmistresses taught Harry several spells to help in the reconstruction of the castle. First they taught him a series of construction spells that would help him repair and rebuild the damaged sections of the castle. They then taught him the spells to re-enchant the ceiling in the Great Hall, reactivate the moving staircases, make announcements to the entire castle, and lock down the entire castle. They also taught him a spell that would channel a wizard's excess magic into the castle which would gradually reactivate the secret passageways and strengthen the wards. Most of the spells, bar the one to make announcements heard throughout the castle and the one to siphon magic into the castle, required an insane amount of magic in order to perform; the enchantment on the ceiling was particularly costly to cast.

Towards the end of October, Quatre and the Maganacs made plans to return to the Winner estate now that the clinic and the first of the three barns were finished and the weather had turned too cold to continue building. Harry was sad to see his brother and surrogate uncles leave but understood they had other obligations. Trowa would be staying a little longer to help Harry settle all of the critters for the winter before he too would return to the Estate.

On the other hand, Cathy would be staying to watch over Harry and his squad and to act as a chaperone for the two young women in the squad (both of whom were not yet adults); saying she couldn't trust seven men to look after themselves properly or behave themselves around the young ladies. Doctor Watanabe and his three assistants joined them about the same time now that his new lab within the clinic had been completed and he brought with him the welcome news that there were five viable centaur embryos currently gestating; three females and two males.

The good doctor wished to start gathering genetic material from those creatures most at risk; those with the fewest numbers. Fawkes was one of such creatures, as like Harry and Obduro, he was the last of his kind and when he finally passed so too would the phoenixes if he didn't allow them to clone him. Harry almost feared the phoenix wouldn't allow the samples to be taken but in the end the steadily fading phoenix willingly shed tears, blood, and more than half of his tail feathers after disappearing for two days. Sadly, Fawkes passed away immediately after giving said donations; having used up the last of his magic to provide the offering.

Harry grieved for the loss and carefully gathered the ashes of the phoenix's last body and diligently preserved them so that they might be used to create nests for any new phoenixes that were successfully cloned. Something that wasn't guaranteed to happen because there were no phoenix graveyards from which they could take additional samples (dead phoenixes leaving nothing but ashes behind) and the chances that there might be some in Harry's potion supplies were slim since phoenix ingredients were exceedingly rare (though Harry had promised the good doctor that he would look for any such samples when he had the time to spare).

Harry was also roped into subjecting himself to a series of tests and giving numerous samples. He warned the doctor that his D.N.A. might present far more problems when it came to cloning due to influence of the tears and venom wrecking havoc on his body along with his magic. Not long after those samples were taken and tested, Dr. Watanabe actually set Harry's mind to rest about whether or not he could still be classified as human; since despite the changes made to his body, his basic D.N.A. was without a doubt clearly human and very much still compatible with other humans. Whether or not any children cloned from his D.N.A. would end up with his wings and hollow bone structure was yet to be determined (a single clone the doctor produced with Harry's grudging permission would answer that question in about nine months).

By the time December first rolled around, Harry's heart was feeling the first threads of hope for the dying world with which he had been entrusted protect and rebuild. Magic would have a future; Harry could and would make certain of that.

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**Translations:** Latin to English

Orsa – beginning, start

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**AN:** _It's a lot of work trying to keep track of everything that Harry needs to do in order to rebuild the wizarding world and I'm certain I've left out a number of things and other things won't be brought up until later. It's a start at least. And I finally got the pilot introductions in for Harry's squad, though I've left their physical descriptions out. Their ages range from sixteen to twenty-three, I think, but I didn't develop them as much as I usually do when I throw an OC into a story because they don't play as big a part as the Gundam pilots or even Zechs does. They will have a bit more screen time in later chapters though and you'll learn a few small tidbits about what they do. _

_Anyway, the next chapter, as promised, will introduce Harry's love interest as well as show what is happening with the rest of the world as we move forward with the GW timeline. I'll be posting again either Thursday or Friday; not sure what day yet as I'll have company on Thursday and need to get a few things done about the house. _

_I do hope everyone had a merry Christmas or other happy holiday. There's extra pie for those who'd like some but I'll warn you now, the turtles and the popcorn are mine and I will defend them! I tried to talk Seth into guarding them for me but I have to make due with my demonic cat because all my other snakes are taking a winter nap and Seth said it was too cold here. I mean really, the pond only froze over twice this week… so it's not __**that**__ cold; wimpy cobra. ~ Jenn_


	37. A World at War

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 36: A World at War

While Harry struggled to accept the tragic history of the society that had given birth to him and save the dying world that was magic, the rest of the world struggled under the continued weight of war. And even though the destruction of the Lunar Base and the corruption of several databases had hampered OZ's efforts to upgrade and improve their mobile dolls, it didn't stop them from mass producing the things as they were being built on Earth and on other bases scattered throughout space. The completed dolls were being shipped to Earth and sent against the Treize Faction, the Rebel Alliance, the Freedom Fighters, and the various countries that were speaking out against OZ as well as being deployed to fight those still rebelling out in space.

Out in space, those that had faithfully followed Zechs from the Lunar Base continued to fight as did the handful of Une men that had followed Zechs from the moon; both groups forming the space arm of the Freedom Fighters along with those that had split from the resistance once Harry and his brothers left. They worked to destroy the mobile dolls before they reached Earth, neutralized the facilities manufacturing the dolls, and protected the Colonies from the predations of the other three sides. Despite their efforts though, the war (and there was no doubt that it was a war) would last for years if the balance wasn't tipped soon.

Shortly after Dr. Watanabe cloned the last wizard, a fifth faction made their presence known; a group that called themselves White Fang and claimed to represent the Colonies. The group was led by Quinze Quarant and financed by Dekim Barton (two of the individuals that were ultimately behind the original Operation Meteor that would have seen the Earth destroyed and under control of the Barton Group – though this information wouldn't come to light until much later). White Fang was currently just giving lip service to the other four factions involved in the war; threatening, promising, and postulating rather than fighting anyone. No one was quite certain what their agenda was and everyone was keeping one eye on them in order to not be caught off guard when the group finally took action.

About the time Harry and the few fighters he had with him assisted the Sanc Kingdom (at Zechs' request) Lady Une finally woke up from her long coma. It soon became obvious that the woman's two dominant personalities had fused into a new personality that was a mixture of both; the woman's mind having fractured over the course of several years only to shatter completely the night of Harry's escape from Luxembourg leading to her developing a full blown case of dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder).

It mostly showed in her continued desire for peace and an end to the constant violence and her ability to use her military training to get things done. Whereas before, her peaceful persona didn't seem to posses any of her military skills and her military persona had no sense of compassion. Heero, Wufei, and Duo felt that she could potentially be a great ally (due to her connections and her experience); the problem lay in the fact that they didn't think Harry could ever accept her because of what she had done and tried to do.

In the interest of sparing Harry any further stress, knowing he was still struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that he'd been sent to the future and not an alternate world; Heero, Duo, and Wufei decided that they would not pass along the news of Une's awakening unless it became necessary or potentially beneficial. They also kept her under house arrest while she continued to recover in order to make certain that she didn't cause any problems for the Freedom Fighters (such as giving away the location of their base of operation to the enemy). The three pilots well knew that Harry might be upset with them over that decision but they still felt it best given how many more important things Harry had to worry about at the moment.

The Freedom Fighters as a whole had other problems to worry about as well, such as the fact that they were running out of suitable refuges to which they could ship the innocent civilians that they were constantly evacuating from the various hot spots around the world. A good number of them had been moved to the Sanc Kingdom and a dozen other peace-minded nations around the world but with the number of dolls on earth constantly growing it was getting increasingly harder to protect those nations from the various factions that sought to subjugate the entire world. The ploy that the Romefeller Foundation had played to drive a number of Treize's troops into the Sanc Kingdom in order to gain a reason to invade the pacifist nation was a prime example and if not for Zechs' presence in the capital with his sister, they might not have been able to get there in time to prevent a disaster.

After the major loss at the border of the Sanc Nation, Duke Dermail (the leader of the Romefeller Foundation and by extension, the leader of OZ in the wake of Treize's demotion) turned his resources to wiping out the Treize Faction since it was currently the weakest group of opposition. As such he ordered five thousand mobile dolls to be shipped to Earth so they could be used to wipe out Luxembourg where Treize had entrenched himself after being removed as the leader of the Organization of the Zodiac. Once Treize was destroyed, the dolls would then be sent to remove the Sanc Kingdom from the equation as Dermail saw Relena and her impassioned speeches advocating complete disarmament and total pacifism as a large threat to Romefeller's and ultimately OZ's goals.

Doctor J. had stumbled upon the order and passed the information along to Heero. Additional research by Wufei led to the discovery that the requested number of unmanned suits was beyond the current number of dolls in existence and that the completion of the requested unmanned force was projected to be completed by December eighth with the dolls due to be shipped to Earth no later than the fifteenth of December. Knowing that it would be far easier to destroy the dolls out in space where they wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage, Heero, Duo, and Wufei made preparations to head out into space with their Gundams to coordinate a strike with their allies out in space.

Given the large number of dolls involved, there was no doubt that any where from one third to one half of them would slip through their ambush. In order to further reduce the number of dolls that could be used against the pacifist nations, Zechs, Trowa, and Major Po made plans to intercept the dolls at Luxembourg. That their plans would also protect the Treize Faction would actually be beneficial in the long run as the group's activities had helped prevent OZ and the Romefeller Foundation from focusing their attention solely on either of the other two factions. Quatre and the Maganac Corps would then be the first line of defense between any remaining dolls and the Sanc Nation with Harry's squad providing back up should it appear that too many mobile dolls managed to break through their lines of defense.

Harry was sent the information, in order to prepare him for the possibility that he'd be needed to fight yet again, on the ninth of December, when it was confirmed that the five thousand dolls had been built and that they were currently being loaded into transport shuttles in preparation of them being shipped to Earth. Harry managed to surprise his brothers and the other leaders of their group when he calmly accepted his orders without making a big deal over the fact that he'd been left out of the loop in regards to the planning. Harry dryly reminded them that he was an adult now and that he was mature enough to understand and accept that he couldn't be everywhere at once given that he was right in the middle of rebuilding what would one day be called the Wizarding Nation.

The small bombshell that Une was awake also didn't draw the expected explosion from the child-like wizard though he told them that she was not welcome in Crystal Valley and that he would not be inclined to remain in the same room with her. The biggest reason for Harry's calm acceptance of the situation had to do with his active attempts to put the past to rest and stop allowing his fears to rule him; it helped that he knew without a doubt that Snape was dead.

That had been one thing the twins had gleefully informed him; the greasy man had been killed by Voldemort the same night Harry had vanished and the wizard was confident that there was no way the man could ever harm or humiliate him again. That was a small measure of just how much Harry had matured over the past twenty months with the help and support of his surrogate family (though that didn't mean that his past wouldn't cause him problems in the future as various situations cropped up unexpectedly).

On the tenth of December, once he'd finished settling the various magical creatures that had sought sanctuary with him into the barn or in some cases in the castle dungeons to protect them from the cold, Harry and his squad headed to the Sanc Kingdom for what would be his third visit. Cathy, Dr. Watanabe, and the doctor's assistants stayed behind to watch over the clinic and the various creatures in his absence.

Harry stopped at the border briefly and spoke with Quatre and the Maganacs, who were currently patrolling the boarders of the Sanc Nation with a third of the Freedom Fighter forces, before he headed to the capital where he and his squad would be stationed until the threat of invasion had been eliminated or they were required to defend the country. As the two Gundams, six Star Suits, and Wolfstar landed in front of the palace, Harry noted a small welcoming committee heading towards them.

"Take a moment to make yourselves look pretty, guys and gals," Harry drawled over the comm. system as he removed his flight suit and used his wand to remove any wrinkles in his clothes. "We've got an official welcoming committee heading in our direction and closing fast. Do try not to trip when you exit your suits."

"_Does that mean you plan on shaving that rat's nest you call hair before you exit Wolfstar, boss? Lord knows that it would be impossible to tame that mess!_" Haddock quipped in return, making Harry chuckle.

"Ah, but the girls love the bad-boy image on one as young looking as I am; while on those who are old and shriveling up like you guys it just looks like you're trying too hard."

"_Oh… that was a low blow. I felt that one right in the heart… no wait, that's just shortness of breath because I'm laughing so hard over the idea that a runt like you could consider yourself a 'bad boy',_" Brian shot back.

"_Don't pick on Taliesin guys… we all know the ladies love him because they think he needs more mothering… I mean really, all he needs is a diaper and a pacifier and they'd all go gaga over him and coo about how adorable he is,_" Takoda added slyly. "_If we take him out in public he'd be the ultimate babe-magnet as the girls would flock to pinch his cheeks and drool over us for being 'responsible' big brothers._"

"Remind me to dock your pay and demote you all to stable hands when we return to the castle," Harry dryly called back before asking Wolfstar to open the door.

"_Pay? What pay? Last I knew, we were strictly volunteers,_" Hilde retorted as she joined the conversation.

"I'm paying you room and board aren't I? Why do you think I gave you guys that case of chocolate and mead the other day?"

"_Ah… the good ole barter system,_" Takoda sagely acknowledged.

"_Sure that wasn't the good old slave system?_" Haddock snidely asked though Harry could tell he was laughing as well.

Harry was still laughing as he dropped down out of the cockpit and lightly landed on the balls of his feet. A quick glance told him that their welcoming committee had stopped a polite distance away to allow them time to get free of their suits, so Harry waited for the other eight to join him on the ground before leading their small group across the distance. As they approached the small group, Harry easily put names to all of the faces and a brief scowl passing over his face when he recognized the long haired blonde standing just a short ways behind Relena and Lucrezia Noin (another person he didn't feel overly fond of but tolerated because she never harmed him or his brothers). By the time they reached the group, Harry had schooled his features into a polite mask as he bowed respectfully to Relena (the fact that she'd mostly outgrown her fan-girl tendencies and matured since he'd first met her allowing him to set aside his former irritation with the younger teen).

"Princess Relena, it is a pleasure to see you again though I wish it could have been under better circumstances," Harry smoothly greeted. "I'm certain you remember my companions; Haddock Cole, Brian Weaver, Takoda Jacobs, Hilde Schbeiker, Patricia Campbell, Jack Martin, Ricardo Ruiz, and Eric Wagner."

"I am pleased to see you and your companions in good health, Taliesin," Relena returned as she nodded to each of the others before stepping forward to hug Harry who stiffened and shifted a bit uncomfortably under the overly familiar gesture (his dislike of physical contact still very strong). "I only wish it was not in response to the threat of another invasion. You do know that you are welcome here any time, right, Taliesin?"

"So you have stated before, Princess Relena; but I find it rather difficult to escape the obligations of rebuilding my family home which I had long thought lost to me. While not exactly a nation it is a small kingdom which was nearly destroyed many years ago and there is much work to be done to reclaim all that was lost through the decades of neglect. I would never turn my back on a friend though; which is why I am here now."

"We will have to make time to sit down and catch up," Relena insisted as she attempted to thread her arm through Harry's only for him to deftly sidestep the move and instead fall into step beside her as she rejoined the rest of the welcoming committee. "I would love to hear more about what you are doing to rebuild your family's former home. I'm certain you remember Pagan and Lucrezia Noin but allow me to introduce you to…"

"Dorothy Catalonia," Harry finished as he tilted his head to one side. "The granddaughter of Duke Dermail, current leader of the Romefeller Foundation and OZ. Funny that you should be here when your grandfather is preparing to invade this kingdom because the Sanc Kingdom stands for everything your grandfather abhors; such as peace and freedom."

"Peace, Taliesin; Dorothy is my friend and she came here to study pacifism," Relena admonished in a lightly stained voice.

"What strange bedfellows you keep, Princess," Harry blandly remarked as he abruptly turned away from Dorothy and met Lucrezia's wary gaze. "Lieutenant Noin; Zechs informed me that you would be the one I would need to speak with to obtain more information about our assignment. If you do not have any pressing matters to attend, I wish to go over the current emergency evacuation procedures in the event that the capital comes under attack during the upcoming confrontation."

"Do the Freedom Fighters really think so little of Princess Relena and the Sanc Kingdom that they sent nothing more than a handful of children led by a little boy to protect her?" Dorothy boldly demanded in a slightly piqued tone that revealed she was upset over the fact that she was just dismissed so casually by someone she thought was nothing more than a child.

"Did she really just call the boss a little boy?" Brian stage whispered to the rest of the squad as they swung their gazes back and forth between the bold (or possibly suicidal) blonde and Harry's stiff back; all of them also more than a little put out that they'd been called children since they were all between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four.

"Lieutenant Noin?" Harry repeated; his tone questioning as he ignored the blonde and her rather childish barb completely though his stiff posture let everyone know he'd heard her loud and clear.

"I have time now, Mr. Bard," Noin replied after glancing to Relena for permission.

"Excellent. Brian; I want you, Patricia, Ricardo, and Eric to form two teams and set up a patrol around the city limit of the capital. Takoda, I'd like you and Hilde to monitor the area in and around the palace. Haddock and Jack the two of you are with me for the time being. We'll work out a rotation schedule later this evening once we've finished going over the evacuation plans and the city's current defenses."

"Yes, sir!" all eight pilots replied in unison as they saluted Harry before splitting off into two groups; six of them returning to their suits while the others moved to catch up to Harry.

"If you and the others will follow me, Mr. Bard?"

"Will you join me for supper this evening, Taliesin?" Relena asked before Harry got more than a few steps away.

"If I am not needed to patrol the castle; then I will gladly join you, Princess Relena."

"I hope to see you this evening then, Taliesin."

Harry nodded sharply as Haddock and Jack fell into step behind him as Noin led them to her office. The four of them would spend the next six hours going over the evacuation plans and current defenses for both the palace and the city in the event that the capital was attacked. He was pleased to learn that there were an additional two dozen royal guards and eight recently purloined Taurus suits that could be used to augment the city patrols (the guards would be switching out of the suits every four hours so they were each well rested).

Knowing that, Harry realized that he wouldn't need to actually stand guard himself since Wolfstar could scan the entire city from the palace grounds while the royal guards took turns patrolling the outskirts of the city. His squad could then take turns guarding the palace grounds and capital while he patrolled inside of the castle and watched over Relena (as requested by Zechs; who worried his sister might try something foolish). Once the meeting was finished, he made arrangements for Noin's men to take over the outer patrols while he sent Haddock and Jack (after they were shown to their rooms) to take over for Takoda and Hilde (who had been patrolling the palace grounds) to give rest of his squad a break so they could be settled into their temporary quarters.

Harry would spend another three hours flying over the city in Wolfstar in order to familiarize himself with the city's layout, pinpoint the city's weaknesses, and lay down a weak perimeter ward twenty miles outside of the city that would warn him if anything larger than a lorry or bus entered the city limits. Once that was finished, he would join Relena for supper so as not to appear rude. Unfortunately, that also meant being subjected to Dorothy Catalonia which Harry was rather loath to do; if only because of her relationship to Duke Dermail and the likely hood that the chit was a spy sent to monitor Relena's movements for the Romefeller Foundation. He'd have to watch himself around her as she would without a doubt pass along any information about himself and his squad as well as their mobile suits.

An hour before the meal was due to begin; Harry took a shower, changed into the black tux Cathy had insisted he get months ago, and centered his emotions before presenting himself at the main entrance to the palace. Pagan then led him through the palace to the dining room where a number of the students attending the school Relena had started were already seated. Harry nearly groaned out loud when as one, all of the girls, turned to look at him with far more interest than he would have expected to generate; given the fact that he looked so young.

He hoped it had more to do with the fact that he was the only male present under the age of twenty-five that was not part of Relena's palace staff or guards (not counting his fellow Freedom Fighters who were currently patrolling or settling in) than any real interest in his person. With as much aplomb as he could muster, Harry walked through the room to take his assigned seat (to the left of Relena but not quite in the chair that was intended for her future consort) which put him directly across from Dorothy Catalonia.

"I am pleased that you could join us this evening, Taliesin."

"It is an honor and a pleasure to be here," Harry boldly stated with a smile and not a single twinge of guilt over the half lie (since he'd much rather be doing something more productive).

"Are you not concerned that you are leaving the city unguarded simply to pursue frivolous pastimes?" Dorothy asked pointedly.

"Dorothy!" Relena chided in a scandalized tone.

"Please don't concern yourself on my behalf, Princess," Harry soothed as he flicked his eyes towards Dorothy for a moment. "I did not take offense to Miss Catalonia's question, uncouth and tasteless as it was, for it is easy to see it is just her fear talking. After all, I'm certain she knows just how determined the Romefeller Foundation is to destroy the Sanc Kingdom as they see your beliefs as a threat to their desire for world domination and she is rather exposed here considering the current situation."

"Taliesin, please," Relena practically begged caught as she was between the two of them.

Harry inclined his head slightly acquiescing to her unspoken request before he changed the subject entirely, "I have been told that you started a small, if rather special school within the palace; tell me, what exactly is it that you teach, Princess?"

"Mostly history so that we might learn from the past mistakes of those who came before us in addition to the standard subjects such as science, math, reading, writing, and music. I personally give lectures on pacifism for those that wish to seek peace without resorting to fighting."

"Zechs has spoken very highly of your lectures the few times we've talked over the past several months; he said that you were very passionate about your beliefs and that you had a natural ability to stir and sway others with your speeches."

"I'm certain he exaggerates," Relena countered with a slight blush at the second hand praise.

"I don't think Zechs is capable of exaggerating. He is very pragmatic and not one to praise someone just to flatter them or their egos."

"I personally have always seen Zechs as cold hearted and single minded; a hardened warrior without equal on the battlefield," Dorothy interjected, her tone still slightly miffed due to Harry's thinly veiled snub.

"I have learned that most humans are rarely one-dimensional," Harry drawled as he leaned back in his chair and sipped at the glass of mulled wine (which had been watered down due to his apparent age) that he'd been served with his soup. "The face that they present to the world is far different than the one they present to friends and family which is different still from the one they wear when they face their enemies."

"And how many faces do you wear, Taliesin Bard? Or should I say, Harry Barton?"

"Despite how closely I resemble my little brother; I am not him and if you were hoping to deliver him to the Romefeller Foundation you are well over a year too late," Harry stated simply as he met Dorothy's semi-triumphant violet eyes with an unyielding mismatched glare. "He succumbed to the injuries he received during his escape from Luxembourg Castle two days after we picked him up outside of the castle walls that night. In other words, my little brother is dead and safe from those who wished him harm. I suppose I can hardly blame you for jumping to the wrong conclusion seeing as how the entirety of OZ had made the same mistake when I was captured sneaking into the Lunar Base."

"My apologies," Dorothy backpedaled with a touch of contrition and more than a little disappointment (since she had hoped to turn him over to his grandfather after assuming he was the same boy that had attended that disastrous dinner the night Treize captured Trowa, Cathy, and Harry – the fact that she was correct in her assumption buried beneath Harry's casual lie about him being his own brother).

Harry held her gaze for a moment longer before he once again turned his attention back to Relena whose face had gone slightly pale over the topic at hand. Heaving a mental sigh, knowing it would be up to him to be the better man in the current situation; Harry schooled his face as he once more addressed Relena, "As I was saying, Zechs spoke very highly of your lectures and if my duties permit it; I would be honored to sit in on one of your lectures."

"You are more then welcome to join us any time, Taliesin," Relena offered immediately, the relief she felt over him not escalating matters further after Dorothy's rather blatant attempts to stir up trouble readily apparent in her tone. "I will have Pagan see to it that you receive a schedule of the lectures for the rest of the week."

"I shall endeavor to arrange my schedule so that I can at least attend one of them then."

The conversation continued to revolve around small talk from that point forward, never once touching on anything remotely political or controversial in nature once the awkwardness of the moment had passed. Harry even casually answered some of Dorothy's less intrusive questions though he gave away no personal information and did not mention the impending invasion a second time. He was quite certain that he'd not only annoyed Dorothy by keeping the talk light and almost friendly but that he'd personally offended her by not responding as expected to her verbal taunts and by not acknowledging her apology. On the other hand Relena truly appreciated Harry acting the part of the gentlemen (despite his apparent age or lack thereof).

Still, supper couldn't end fast enough for Harry; though once it did end he wished it could have lasted another five hours when he learned that Relena had organized a small dance for after the meal. As one of the very few males in attendance, Harry was being sized up by nearly every single teen in the room and he nearly whined when the music started. Resigned to his fate, Harry graciously asked Relena for the first dance and silently thanked Cathy for her insistence that he actually learn how to dance; doing his best to fight his growing panic over the prolonged (if innocent) physical contact. To the disappointment of the rest of the ladies present, Harry didn't ask anyone else to dance and barely managed to avoid those that were intent on asking him; the young wizard having no desire to put himself in a position where he'd have to endure physical contact with strangers.

The next night (after a long day of patrolling the city and palace) wasn't quite as difficult as Harry roped the rest of his squad into attending the next formal evening meal with him (since there were enough palace guards to handle the patrols for a few hours) and Harry was soon ignored in favor of the 'real men' present. Harry silently congratulated himself on a well played diversion right up until his relative peace was disturbed by one Dorothy Catalonia. Thankfully, she hadn't accosted him to ask him to dance since Harry didn't think he could stomach initiating any physical contact with her and therefore didn't offer to dance with her either.

And while Harry could admit she was pretty, her abrasive nature reminded him far too much of a female version of Draco Malfoy crossed with Fleur Delacour for him to think her beautiful (seeing her as a combination of undeserved arrogance mixed with haughty superiority). Fleur at least had a reason for her attitude; being swarmed by idiots day in and day out because of her veela allure had to have been annoying after all.

"You dislike me," Dorothy stated bluntly as she stepped up beside Harry with a glass of sweetened punch in her hand and watched the various couples currently waltzing around the dance floor.

"I dislike confrontational people who seek to create friction simply because they do not appreciate harmony," Harry countered with a simple shrug of his shoulder as he automatically took a small step to the side to maintain a safe distance between the two of them.

"You don't think you are being hypocritical considering you came here looking for a fight?"

"No… because I did not come here looking for a fight. I came here because my skills will be useful to save lives and a friend of mine asked me to protect that which he held dear."

"Your reasons for coming don't really matter when, ultimately, you are here to fight. Human beings thrive on conflict whether they wish to admit it or not; even Princess Relena thrives when faced with conflict."

"I pity you if that is what you truly believe," Harry bluntly replied, "for you have no true understanding of human nature and will most likely end up bitter and alone at the end of your life."

"Open your eyes, little boy; the world all around you is being destroyed by the men and women that are out there fighting because they can't help but be drawn towards the conflict!"

Harry drew himself up to his full height as he turned to face Dorothy and scathingly responded, "Choosing to fight to protect your loved ones and the innocent from death or worse doesn't equate to loving a conflict that was thrust upon you by petty old men and women who think themselves above the law. And while I may be physically stunted due to circumstances beyond my control; at least I am not emotionally stunted."

"If not for that conflict those men and women would be nothing," Dorothy insisted obtusely as she ignored the insult he'd thrown at her in return. "You would be no one without your mobile suit and the battles you have fought in it."

"If not for the war that people like your grandfather thrust upon the world in their greed, those people out there risking their lives would be home with their families living their lives as they see fit; building a future for their children with every breath they take. And my suit is not what makes me who I am. Without it, I would still be the same person I am now; a man whose entire family was utterly decimated by those conflicts you enjoy promoting with every word that pours forth from your lips. A man who is trying to rebuild that which both of my parents loved enough to give their lives protecting."

"It is easy to destroy that which other people make but to create something that will benefit others without seeking personal gain or recognition takes true courage and hard work," Harry continued as he turned back to watch Relena as she danced with Haddock and laughed over something the twenty year old had said. "Princess Relena seeks to create peace through her beliefs, not for herself, but for those to whom her words give hope. She faces the trials set before her to protect the beloved kingdom of her forefathers while struggling to live up to their ideals out of love for her people."

"You admire Princess Relena then? You seek to follow her example?"

"Yes, you could say I admire Princess Relena; she has not wavered in her beliefs no matter who has tried to crush her. Will I follow her example? No… I am not a pacifist and will take up arms against those that wish me or mine harm. I do not go out of my way to seek conflict though and will lay down my life to protect the innocent regardless of whom they are or whom their parents were."

"You keep trying to deny it but your words say otherwise; you thrive on the conflict and you live for the thrill of the fight."

"Tell me, Miss Catalonia; have you ever been forced to take another life in order to protect yourself or someone you held dear? Or witnessed another's life being struck down before your very eyes for no other reason than that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and been helpless to prevent it from happening?"

"No."

"Then please don't presume to tell me what I do or do not feel when you couldn't possibly understand me or my decisions. Stop trying to paint me with the same brush you've used to paint yourself and those whose beliefs you continuously spout. Then again, it sounds to me like you are trying to desperately cling to something you know is untrue if only to avoid the pain, confusion, and fear the unfiltered truth would force you to face. Running from your fears or trying to pretend they don't exist only makes them larger and harder to face when you suddenly find yourself face to face with your worst nightmare brought to life and find there is no escape."

Harry gave a short, sharp bow before he simply walked away; leaving the young lady alone and without the chance to offer up another retort. He had no desire to continue the circular conversation as he'd been getting a headache from her mulish stance that made absolutely no sense when one actually considered his replies. Not wanting to be cornered a second time, Harry made his excuses to Relena before he headed out to spend a few hours watching over the grounds inside of Wolfstar and see if there were any updates from his brothers.

Over the course of the next three days, Harry constantly felt himself being watched almost every where he went and he often caught Dorothy staring at him or even following him. He was at least thankful that she'd not tried to start another conversation though her fan-girl-like stalker behavior was beginning to get on his nerves (such behavior was one of the reasons it had taken him so long to warm up to Relena after all and that was mostly because the young leader had matured after taking up her crown). It was almost a relief when Wolfstar sent him an urgent nudge through their mental link during supper on the fifteenth. Harry sat up and tilted his head to one side before he rose, made his excuses to his dining companions, and ordered his squad out to their suits. He also gave a pointed look to Noin, to silently let her know something had happened.

Harry had barely entered the cockpit when he was bombarded with the information from the first phase of their counter attack. The first fifteen minutes of the battle had been going exceedingly well right up until the forces of the White Fang interfered. So instead of potentially cutting the number of dolls that entered the atmosphere in half they'd barely destroyed nine hundred of them. Harry grimly watched the video feed of the battle before making certain his squad had gotten the same information. Harry then sent the information to Noin before contacting Zechs to see if the man needed any backup.

"Zechs; Taliesin here, do you require back up?"

"_Negative, Taliesin; Treize had already abandoned the castle before we got here and we evacuated the rest of the city upon arrival. We'll play decoy to make it seem like Treize is still here and destroy as many of them as we can before slowly retreating to the border of the Sanc Kingdom in the hopes that they'll follow us instead of searching for Treize and his men or mucking about in the city,_" Zechs replied. "_I'll let you and the others know the moment we start leading the dolls towards you._"

"Understood, Zechs," Harry replied before he opened up the lines to his squad. "This is it ladies and gentlemen, let's sound the alarm to start the city's evacuation; I want the civilians out of here before the night is out. I'm going to finish raising the wards to protect the palace and the hospital. Keep an ear to the radio and be prepared to defend the city in the event that half of the dolls break off to attack us simultaneously."

"_Yes, sir!_"

Harry allowed Wolfstar to take them to the hospital where those that needed medical care, and therefore could not be evacuated, would be brought if they weren't already there. While the suit was navigating, Harry pulled out his wand and slid it into the sleeve of the amplifier and began channeling his magic. Ten minutes later, he was casting protective wards over the outside of the hospital (well away from the walls so the magic wouldn't interfere with their electronic equipment), layering them so that there was no chance of him missing a single inch of the hospital grounds.

An hour and a half later he was repeating the process on the palace as he listened to the initial reports coming in from Luxembourg. When he finished with the wards, he had Wolfstar fly into position several hundred feet above the palace while he slipped into his supply trunk and drank a Pepper-Up Potion and a Rejuvenation Potion so he wouldn't be quite so tired when the dolls arrived.

Eight hours after learning the results of their attempt to limit the number of dolls entering Earth's atmosphere, Harry took complete control of Wolfstar and Zero. Of the original four thousand one hundred suits that had successfully made it into the atmosphere, there were approximately three thousand three hundred and fifty of them descending upon the Sanc Kingdom from six different directions; their numbers having been supplemented by the numerous dolls that had already been on Earth as Zechs and those with him had taken out close to two thousand of the machines.

All of his brothers (even the three that had attempted to stop the suits in space) and the rest of the Freedom Fighters had gathered on the borders in order to cut the numbers even further. They would remain on the border regardless of how many suits made it through their lines in order to destroy any surviving dolls that attempted to escape once the invasion was over. Harry's squad (minus Harry), on the other hand, were stationed in pairs a hundred miles out from the capital city along side the eight commandeered Taurus Suits that belonged to the Sanc Kingdom in order to deal with the ones that made it passed those guarding the borders. That left Harry to take care of anything that made it passed his squad since it was far safer for those fighting on his side if they were no where near where he would be making his stand.

"_Taliesin, be careful,_" Heero ordered as the first wave of mobile dolls attacked.

Harry only gave his brother a slightly feral grin over the video feed in response; his eyes glowing red and gold due to his connection with the sentient suit. A few minutes later, Wolfstar's sensors began to feed information directly into his brain as he hovered (in suit mode) directly over the palace which sat in the very heart of the capital city. Those dolls that had slipped through the front lines and around his scattered squad and the eight palace guards in suits had just begun approaching the edge of the capital when the second wave of dolls attacked the borders.

As the dolls rapidly approached the perimeter ward that Harry had set up the night he arrived, Harry pulled his twin beam rifles out and began charging them; the custom buster rifle far too dangerous to use over the city. Just before Harry and Wolfstar burst into action, Harry allowed the suit to play an audio file of a howling wolf on the external speakers and then the Demon of the Stars flew into battle once more, this time on Earth.

There was no holding back this time (not like he had during his demonstration) and Harry danced through wave after wave of mindless machines that sought to destroy Relena and the hope she represented to the world. Magic pulsed inside and outside of the suit as Zero once again siphoned Harry's magic through their connection in order to counteract the effects of gravity which normally would have slowed the suit's effectiveness. What magic Wolfstar could not hold or use swirled around them in a barely visible maelstrom that protected the suit from the constant barrage of fire that was being rained down on them and destroyed any doll that came within contact with it.

It was the single largest sustained outpouring of magic felt in nearly five hundred years and the entire earth fairly trembled beneath the onslaught of pure power. All around the world, those magical creatures and beings that had found refuges in places other than Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest sat up and took notice as the air literally crackled with magic all around them. At Hogwarts, Obduro watched the stars come alive in response to the steady influx of potent magic and the old centaur smiled as the heavens spoke to him of the birth of a new age of magic and peace.

Inside of the veterinary clinic, five centaur embryos, two phoenix embryos, and four human embryos (the oldest of which was meticulously labeled as Bard Jr.) continued to grow; their tiny cells greedily absorbing the magic that swirled through the fluid in which they floated, strengthening them.

Sixteen hours and thirty-two minutes after engaging his first opponent, Harry and Wolfstar landed hard on the lawn in front of Relena's palace, the sentient suit dropping down onto its hands and knees as it equally shared Harry's exhaustion. In the air above them the last two remaining mobile dolls, Wolfstar's twin beam swords buried vertically through their heads and bodies, exploded spectacularly; lighting the entire grounds for a brief moment as debris rained down on and around Wolfstar.

Panting heavily, Harry closed his eyes and hung limply in his harness as lethargy swept over and through both his body and mind. The only reason he had not passed out immediately upon destroying the last of the dolls was sheer stubbornness as he had no wish to allow those undoubtedly watching from inside of the palace to see him as being weak or vulnerable.

"_Taliesin? Can you give us a status report?_" Trowa instructed as his concerned voice floated through the numbness that had settled over Harry's overworked brain.

"Ene…my… de…feated… to a… man; Pal…ace… se…cure…" Harry rasped out slowly without bothering to open his eyes.

"_Idiot… what is your current condition, Taliesin?_" Heero demanded in exasperation.

"St…ill… brea…thing, Wolf…star… slee…ping, wan… go… home…"

"_In other words he's a stubborn cuss and on the verge of passing out because he pushed himself beyond his limits again,_" Zechs declared dryly.

"_Twenty dollars says he spends da next three weeks doin' his sleepin' beauty impression,_" Duo interjected with a laugh.

"_I don't take suckers bets,_" Wufei shot back with a snort.

"Put me… down for… five days… three hours… and four…teen… minutes… exact…ly, Duo," Harry insisted as his inner mind began pulling on his consciousness. "Give you… six to… one odds."

"_Sure thing, kiddo,_" Duo laughed back though Harry didn't respond as expected. "_Taliesin…? Taliesin, are ya still there?_"

"_He's out, guys,_" Quatre announced with a sigh. "_I'm surprised he stayed coherent as long as he did given how long he'd been fighting. Did any one keep track of how many suits managed to reach him and how many escaped destruction?_"

"_I lost count around seven hundred about nine hours ago,_" Wufei quietly admitted.

"_He faced exactly one thousand, seven hundred and fourteen dolls,_" Noin stated weakly from her station beneath the palace where she'd been monitoring the battle. "_And not a single one escaped._"

Duo and a couple of the other pilots let out impressed whistles before silence descended over the radio as the knowledge that Harry had destroyed about one hundred and four suits an hour for sixteen hours straight using just the twin beam rifles, the two beam swords, the short range missiles, and Wolfstar's throwing knives was more than a little daunting. If he'd been willing to use the custom buster rifle as he had during the Battle for the Moon, they had no doubt that the battle would have been much shorter since the blasts fired by the custom rifles could destroy a far larger number of suits at once. Harry had not wanted to risk missing a target and damaging the city or worse injuring or killing someone who'd somehow slipped through the evacuation though, so he'd intentionally not used the suits most powerful weapon.

Once it was certain that there would be no more troops attempting to invade the small pacifist kingdom, the leaders of the Freedom Fighters set about organizing their troops. Those still in a condition to do so were set to monitoring the borders to keep watch for any sign that another invasion would be launched. Those that had been injured or were too exhausted retreated to the various base camps that had been scattered throughout the Sanc Nation where they could get medical treatment, rest, and resupply their suits. Once the men were set, the leaders (who were made up of Harry's five brothers, Zechs, Sally Po, Rashid, and Abdul) converged on the palace with Harry's squad following them in order to patrol the capital city.

Those who'd headed to the capital couldn't help but note that very little of the debris from the destroyed mobile dolls had actually fallen inside of the capital city limits; Harry having done his best to take care of them before they even reached that far. It would have been a far more difficult if not impossible task for any of the other pilots had they been fighting alone like Harry had but the former Gundam Wing Zero suit had been in a class all by itself and that was before Harry's magic had been used to enhance it and before magic had brought the suit to life.

The accumulation of wreckage completely ringed the city for nearly three miles in every direction; signifying that the mobile dolls been coming from every direction as they attempted to attack the city. Inside of the city they found evidence that maybe two hundred dolls total had gotten by Harry at some point or another and that they'd done so in small groups of twos and threes given the way their remains were scattered. Of those two hundred mobile dolls to reach the inner city, only two had actually made it as far as the place grounds at the very center of the city; the last two that Harry had destroyed before he and Wolfstar had collapsed.

When the group dropped down beside the strangely motionless Wolfstar still propped on his hands and knees they found a small group nervously hovering just a few feet away from the frozen suit. In that group was Relena, Dorothy, Pagan, and two of the royal guards that Noin had assigned to watch over the princess while she was in the command center monitoring the battle and giving out orders to the guards inside and out of the city. Both young ladies were extremely pale and showed evidence that they'd been extremely worried or fearful; Relena had crescent shaped marks on her cheeks from where she'd dug her nails into her cheeks and Dorothy's lower lip was slightly swollen and her chin was smeared with a thin thread of blood from where her teeth had cut into her lip at one point.

"You ladies should not be out here," Heero half growled as he reached them and Wolfstar first.

Relena latched onto him the moment she saw him, resting her head on his shoulder as she half clung to him in her need for comfort as she tightly replied, "I couldn't just stand there and do nothing after what he'd just done for my country. I am well aware of just how dangerous it is to fly those cursed suits and even I know that the level of speed he forced from his suit was dangerous at best and suicidal at worst. He was so reckless out there! And then to see him just collapse on my front lawn!? What was I supposed to do? Leave him?"

"Taliesin is one of the most talented pilots I have ever had the privilege to know," Zechs stated as he dropped his hand on Relena's shoulder. "There is a reason we left him as the last line of defense instead of putting him on the front lines. I can guarantee that he will be just fine after a few days of rest."

"The mobile dolls were designed to move at speeds that would kill a pilot in order to make them a more effective army," Dorothy quietly declared. "He was moving five to ten times faster than the fastest speeds that the Taurus Dolls are reported to reach if pushed to their limits. No one could have survived that. How could you all let him do something so recklessly stupid? He's just a child!"

"Don't let Taliesin hear ya callin' him a child," Duo drawled as he walked by the group and activated the manual release on the door to the cockpit after noting that Heero's hands were a bit occupied with the distraught princess. "He may not look it but he's older than ya think and he won't think ya for pickin' on his height or rather da lack there of."

"Enough yapping; just get your butt up there and pass him down to me," Trowa ordered impatiently as he gave Duo a shove to get him moving.

Harry was handed down out of the cockpit a few minutes later, his eyes only half closed and still glowing red and gold; a clear indication that he was still fully connected to Zero. There was no question that he was unconscious though as he would have protested being cradled in Trowa's arms like an infant otherwise. When Trowa tried suggesting that they load Wolfstar into a cargo plane and fly both the suit and Harry home so that he could rest, Relena put her foot down and insisted that he stay in the palace so that she could watch over him in return for his efforts of protecting her kingdom.

After a short debate between the five brothers, they submitted to Relena's demands knowing it wouldn't make much difference in the long run where Harry rested. Duo and Wufei were then chosen to head to Scotland along with half of Harry's squad to let Cathy know that Harry was fine, if exhausted, and that he'd be gone a while longer. The six of them would then be staying to help her watch over the magical creatures in Harry's stead.

* * *

**AN:** _I had fully intended to have this chapter plus at least one or two more posted before the New Year but between one thing and another I completely forgot about posting and then an unexpected bout of unpleasantness cropped up that had to be dealt with first. So, I'll apologize now for the absurdly long wait. I'll be tossing up another chapter tomorrow for certain (it's already been uploaded in fact). _

_In the mean time, I hope the chapter was at least worth the wait. It was a busy chapter at least; with White Fang finally making an appearance, the attempted invasions against the Sanc Kingdom dealt with, Lady Une is awake again, Relena has matured and lost a good portion of her fan-girlisms (is that even a word?), and Dorothy has now had a proper introduction. And yes, eventually, it will be a Harry/Dorothy pairing; in case any of you didn't pick up on that. She has some growing to do before that happens though. _

_The battle might have been a bit rushed and glossed over but I didn't want to detract from the main focus of the chapter; which was Harry's interactions with Dorothy. The next chapter will deal with the fall-out from the battle and will reveal the point at which things diverted from canon once more. I think from this point forward, aside from one or two major events, canon is pretty much blown out of the water as all of the little changes that have occurred since Harry met Heero are finally beginning to bear fruit. _

_Anywho, you can expect the next chapter to be posted tomorrow. ~ Jenn_


	38. A Spy's Deflection

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 37: A Spy's Deflection

Harry's estimate of exactly how long he would be unconscious was off by two days but it was still a far cry from the three weeks Duo had predicted. He was a bit put out to find himself waking up in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar bedroom, and with a familiar and unwelcome individual sleeping curled up in the chair beside the bed. He grimaced and swallowed the groan that had risen in the back of his throat as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, grabbed his glasses from the nightstand beside the bed, and let out a silent sigh of relief when he caught sight of Quatre working at the desk that sat beneath the window off to one side of the lavishly appointed room.

"Good afternoon, Taliesin," Quatre greeted without even turning around to face him, his Space Heart having picked up Harry's minor flash of confusion and irritation.

"Hey, Quatre; where am I, how long have I been out, and why, oh why, is Dorothy Catalonia sleeping in a chair beside my bed?"

"Princess Relena was most insistent that you remain here under her care while you were recovering and she has been dutifully watching over you when not fulfilling her day to day duties. You have been unconscious for just over seven days and Miss Catalonia has practically remained by your side the entire time. Princess Relena has seen to it that she ate regularly and took care of herself; otherwise I don't think she'd have left your side at all."

"Wonderful," Harry deadpanned as he ran a hand over his face. "It took me nearly an entire year to shake my last stalker and I'm already saddled with a replacement? I suppose I should at least be thankful that she hasn't turned into a rabid fan girl. Has anyone taken care of Wolfstar? He was… I pushed him far beyond his limits over the course of the battle."

"Heero took care of him and tucked him into one of the transport planes so he wouldn't be disturbed."

"That's a relief. I don't think he'll be operable for at least another three or four days because I nearly fried his systems when he began having trouble keeping up with me towards the end. Don't know if the stress I placed on him will have a lasting effect on his overall performance or not. I'll probably need to do a complete overhaul of his propulsion system and either upgrade or replace his fusion reactor since I know I overheated both."

"Will that affect his internal systems?" Quatre inquired softly, referring to the personality that Wolfstar had been developing ever since Harry's magic had brought the suit to life.

"No, I made absolutely certain that his memory and central processors were insulated and protected above and beyond everything else. I also have a complete back-up of his mind on my laptop in the event that the worst does happen so I could have restored him eventually." (A reference to the link that Harry shared with the suit and the Zero interface; meaning that so long as Harry lived and the suit could be repaired, Wolfstar would live on.)

"That is good to hear; I know his systems are rather unique."

"I would have said high maintenance," Harry quipped before letting out a snicker which made Quatre smile in return as he glanced over his shoulder at Harry. "As informative as the past few minutes have been, I'm in need of a shower and a change of clothes. Can you point me in the proper direction?"

"The bathroom is through the second door on your right."

Harry thanked his brother and wasted no time in heading towards the bathroom so he could empty his bladder, wash up, and dig out something to wear aside from the rather wrinkled and smelly tux he'd been wearing beneath his flight suit when the battle started. Habit and deeply ingrained paranoia had Harry filling up the bathroom with plenty of steam (helped in no small part by a mist spell he'd recently learned from the Marauder's Grimoire) before he even began undressing in order to prevent any cameras from getting a clear image of him and his wings. He then stood beneath the downpour of near scalding hot water and sighed in pleasure as the heat washed away the lingering soreness that came from laying in bed for so long in addition to the magical exhaustion. Thirty-five minutes later, he walked back into the guestroom he'd been given feeling much better.

"Taliesin, I'm so pleased to see you awake again at last!" Relena exclaimed before she practically pounced on Harry the moment he returned to the room. "I was so worried you'd done yourself serious harm as I watched you recklessly push yourself out there."

"I have been flying for seven years and I knew exactly what I was doing out there," Harry stated as he deftly extracted himself from the awkward and uncomfortable embrace. "I was never in any real danger. Besides, I wasn't about to break the promise I made to your brother when he asked me to protect you in his stead."

"Men," Relena huffed in exasperation as she rolled her eyes and gave just the smallest of smiles.

Harry snorted and shook his head, a slight smirk playing about his lips as he knew that she'd blister Zechs' ear over the revelation that Harry had promised the older man to watch over her the moment she had him in her sights. Harry then gave her a more genuine smile as he spoke up once more, "I want to thank you for allowing me to stay while I recovered and for watching over me while I was unconscious."

"My honor would not allow me to do any less for you and those who fought beside you to protect my people and my kingdom. Besides, you are a friend and I would never turn a friend away in his time of need."

"And I suppose you didn't mind that Heero stuck around to keep an eye on me while I was here," Harry teased with a cheeky grin as he watched Relena's face turn red.

"Brat," Relena gasped as she covered her blushing cheeks with her hands.

Harry's mismatched eyes danced with laughter and mischief and he opened his mouth to make another comment only to hold his tongue when the door opened and Heero and Trowa walked in followed by Zechs, Takoda, Hilde, Jack, and Eric (the four squad members that stayed behind). While Harry might tease both his brother and Relena about her crush he'd never humiliate both of them by doing so in front of each other and an audience.

Trowa reached him first and after determining he was just fine, he grabbed Harry in a headlock and gave him a noogie that had Harry yelping indignantly which woke Dorothy from her nap. Heero stepped in and saved Trowa from an untimely hexing by slapping Harry in the back of the head and shoving him backwards onto the bed. Zechs just stood watching with a smirk on his face until Relena strode up to him and gave him a piece of her mind about drawing ridiculous promises from reckless pilots while everyone else just watched on. Harry snickered as he rolled off the bed and ran his fingers through his hair in an effort to fix the mess Trowa had made of it before straightening his glasses.

His laughter cut off rather abruptly when he happened to catch sight of a pair of violet eyes (filled with insecurity, confusion, curiosity, and wistfulness) watching him intently. Harry felt an urge to scowl at the girl only to end up sighing instead as he ran a hand through his hair a second time; sure she was annoying and her skewed beliefs were irritating but she hadn't actually done anything to him or his brothers. And while he suspected she was a spy for her grandfather and the Romefeller Foundation; he really didn't have any proof one way or another. All other activity in the room stopped as abruptly as Harry's laughter had as their attention was drawn to the growing tension between Dorothy and Harry.

Taking a deep breath, Harry offered a polite bow to the sixteen year old before stating, "I owe you my gratitude as well, Miss Catalonia, for taking up a vigil at my bedside when you did not have to; especially when one considers that we have parted on less than pleasant terms each time we have spoken."

Dorothy seemed overly flustered by his politeness and his verbal proclamation of gratitude and Harry tensed imperceptively as a light blush tinged her cheeks pink. It seems his earlier declaration about Miss Catalonia not being a fan-girl had been a bit premature and if he'd been alone he'd have groaned and whined pathetically since he'd really, really enjoyed the fan-free years he'd had since being thrown into the future (Relena not counting since she had been Heero's fan, not his). He was utterly thankful that Duo hadn't been there to witness the exchange but by the smirk on Heero's face he'd be getting ribbed over the whole ordeal anyway.

He was just contemplating the merits of beating a hasty retreat through the nearest window when Dorothy finally found her tongue and replied, "I felt obligated to help you after you made me reexamine my priorities. It was the least I could do after you risked yourself so selflessly in order to protect all of those inside of the palace and city."

Harry blinked and tilted his head to one side in an unconscious mimicry of a confused and curious wolf. He'd heard something in Dorothy's voice that hadn't been there the last time they'd actually spoken and he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. For some reason the young teen's blush deepened further as Harry studied her intently and after a few seconds Harry let out a silent snort as he shook his head in disbelief before tearing his eyes away. Harry's wings twitched and shifted in response to his confusion and self-directed exasperation inside their hidden pocket. He was about to talk one of his brothers into taking him to see Wolfstar so he could assess just how badly he'd stressed the sentient suit when Dorothy spoke up once more.

"I also selfishly thought that doing so would allow me to atone for the mistakes I have made, the things I have done, and those things that I nearly did under the mistaken belief that I was helping to make the world a better place."

Harry snapped his head around to fix his mismatched gaze on her once more, his eyes now shrewd and calculating. He noted her defeated posture as she dropped her gaze, her face turning pale as the blood drained from her cheeks. He instinctively knew exactly what she was hinting at; as did everyone else present in the room.

"Dorothy, we already spoke of this…" Relena began in a sharp voice that also held a hint of pleading.

"Zechs… please escort Princess Relena from the room," Harry ordered without taking his eyes off of Dorothy.

"Taliesin Bard you can not go about ordering me around inside of my own palace!" Relena countered indignantly even as Zechs gently took her by the arm and began half guiding and half dragging her from the room. "Dorothy is my friend and she made a few mistakes but that is no reason…"

Whatever else Relena was going to say was cut off as Zechs set her outside the room and firmly snapped the door shut before locking said door. Dorothy paled further as she glanced wide-eyed between each of the men and one woman locked in the room with her and her only avenue of escape which had effectively been cut off. Relena pounded on the door several times, the sound of her voice rising and falling though her words were too muffled to be understood through the thick door. Harry didn't need to hear the now irate teen to know she was pissed with him though.

"What exactly is it you plan to do with me?" Dorothy asked in a steady voice though fear lurked in her eyes.

"We're going to take a short trip and have a long conversation," Harry answered truthfully as he discreetly palmed his wand. "Although, I'm afraid you're going to miss a significant portion of both the trip and the discussion; good night, Miss Catalonia." Red light engulfed the confused and frightened teen and she slumped back in her chair as Harry tucked his wand back into his sleeve and turned to face the other four in the room to ask, "Command Center or library?"

"The Command Center is easier for all of us to get in and out of but it would also allow her to potentially see far more than we'd wish her to," Heero pointed out.

"We could set her up in one of the extra, unfurnished rooms," Harry countered. "She'd never know exactly where she was and I can either stun her again or feed her a sleeping potion when it is time for her to leave. Princess Relena isn't going to be happy with us no matter where we take her so we have to handle this as delicately as possible since Relena does see Miss Catalonia as a friend."

"It is best that none of us are ever alone in the room with her," Quatre stated softly from where he was still seated at the desk. "It would also be prudent if we bring either Major Po or Lieutenant Noin along as well in addition to Hilde because then there will be no chance that she can claim we tried to take advantage of her."

"Joy," Harry muttered as his lip curled up in distaste as the thought of being accused of doing something he found abhorrent. "Relena trusts Noin enough that her presence during any interrogation will set Relena's mind at ease. Unfortunately, that means cluing Noin in far more than I feel comfortable with since I don't really know her all that well."

"She can be trusted," Zechs assured him.

"That's not what I… fine… but you'd best explain to her that she's not to speak about what she learns about me to anyone because if she so much as says a word to Relena I will curse her with bad luck. Relena is nice and all but she is far too trusting and open which makes it difficult for her to keep a secret; not that I think she'd blab it out on purpose, just that she couldn't lie to save her life."

Harry then plucked his leather cord from around his neck and set up the Command Trunk, his supply trunk, and his food trunk at the foot the bed while Zechs stuck his head out the door to have Noin summoned only to find that Relena had already called for her. When Lucrezia was allowed into the room but Relena was not, the young ruler of the Sanc Kingdom stamped her foot in frustration before she stormed away.

Harry merely sighed as he lifted the lid to the supply trunk and addressed his brothers, "Trowa and Heero, can the two of you please give me a hand grabbing everything we'll need? Takoda, can you and Jack please start setting up an interrogation room in the Command Center? Quatre, Hilde, and Eric; will the three of you please watch over our guest? Zechs, I'm leaving you to brief Noin."

Harry, Trowa, Heero, Takoda, and Jack then disappeared into two different trunks to the astonishment of Noin who turned to Zechs for answers.

"What is going on, Zechs?" Noin demanded as she frowned up at him before craning around to catch sight of Dorothy slumped in her chair. "Relena is more than a little upset with all of you right now and I hadn't yet managed to get a coherent answer from her before you pulled me in here other than it had something to do with Miss Catalonia. And why the hell did the five of them just climb inside of a pair of trunks?"

"We'll fill you in on the situation with Dorothy Catalonia in a moment," Zechs replied as he gently pulled her to one side of the room. "First… what you are about to learn is a closely guarded secret within the Freedom Fighter Corp and even then it is mostly only known to a select few. You can not speak of what you learn about Taliesin here today to anyone; not even Relena. Taliesin, well, he won't take kindly to you telling anyone and he can and will make your life miserable if you do. I can promise you that what you learn today will not pose a direct threat to Relena or her kingdom but it could have devastating repercussions on Taliesin if any of what you learn gets back to those in the Romefeller Foundation, OZ, Treize, the Alliance Rebels, or the newly emerging White Fang."

"What could possibly…?" Noin began to ask only to trail off when she saw Harry, Heero, and Trowa exit the trunk carrying several folding chairs, a folding table, and a couple of boxes that they most assuredly did not have before they'd entered the trunk. The three of them then disappeared into the trunk that the others had entered with their burdens. "Did they just…?"

"Wait until you actually get the full story," Zechs drawled in amusement. "I've assured Taliesin that you are trustworthy but he is not a very trusting individual so I'm putting myself out on the line to include you on this. Do I have your promise that you will not betray my trust or Taliesin's?"

"You have my word, Zechs," Noin breathed without any hesitation, her trust in Zechs far surpassing the trust he held in her (and he trusted her enough to watch his back and protect his little sister).

"Thank you," Zechs replied with a smile. "I guarantee you'll never quite see the world the same way again."

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Zechs," Harry quipped as he climbed out of the Command Center and headed for his portable larder. "Go ahead and show her around; Takoda and Jack are almost finished so we'll be able to move Miss Catalonia down soon."

"How much longer is she going to be out?"

"At least another six hours; unless I wake her up sooner."

Harry was gone again before another question could be asked and Zechs led Noin to the trunk Heero, Trowa, Takoda, and Jack were currently inside and he simply gestured for her to step inside first. She gave him a long look before complying and Zechs stepped inside after her in time to hear her gasp in shock and see her jaw drop halfway to the floor as she took in the state of the art Command Center tucked away inside of a trunk of all places. Zechs was rather impressed himself with the numerous upgrades and changes Harry and the squad had made over the intervening months since he'd last entered the trunk.

To start with, the maps that had covered two of the walls had been replaced with twenty one large flat screen monitors installed flush against one another in three rows of seven on the shorter wall to the right of the staircase. Each screen seemed to be rotating through a different set of ten electronic maps that were constantly reporting the various activities of the different factions currently fighting in the war (five of the monitors dedicated entirely to the various facilities out in space). Directly beneath the monitors was a table that was as long as the room was wide under which sat a rather impressive supercomputer that Zechs suspected ran the mapping program that updated and monitored the maps on the wall above.

There were three workstations spaced out over top of that same table. The first one belonged to Eric (the squad's radio man) and was set up as a communications center complete with radio, CB, and satellite equipment, four laptops (one linked to Rockstar, one linked to Wolfstar, one linked to the internet, and one to filter information between the other three), a desktop, and a single printer.

Next to that was Ricardo's navigation center (the squad's navigator) set up with various sonar, radar, an assortment of scanners, and satellite equipment, another four laptops (set up much like Eric's, only with one linked to Northstar instead of Rockstar), a desktop, another printer, and a large collection of maps. The final and largest station on that table was a research center and belonged to the squad's researcher, Patricia, and had four desktop computers, another four laptops (one of which was linked to Dragonstar), several printers, and a number of books and printouts covered nearly every inch of the unoccupied workspace.

On the wall directly opposite of the stairs (what would be the back of the trunk) where the temporary stations had been set up previously, were four more workstations; three of the four each had a single wrap around desk and at least one flat screen monitor linked to the mapping system hung on the wall. Like the other three stations below the new map wall, those first three work spaces were assigned to a single squad member and each one reflected the job each individual had been assigned within the squad.

The first station belonged to Jack (the squad's medic) and had two desktops, four laptops (one linked to Superstar), three printers, and a bookshelf filled with medical books, charts, and files. The next station belonged to Takoda (the squad's supply officer and delivery boy) had another four laptops (one linked to Dogstar), a pair of desktops, a printer, and several file cabinets for various invoices, receipts, and shipping manifests.

The third station belonged to the squad's mechanic, Hilde, and had three desktops, four laptops (one linked to Deathstar), two printers, several boxes of spare parts, a top of the line tool chest, and a small bookshelf crammed full of manuals for assorted vehicles, machines, mobile suits, and other equipment. The final station (which was actually two stations with the dividing wall removed) belonged to Haddock and Brian. It was set up with a pair of desktops, eight laptops (one each linked to their suits – Arcticstar and Brimstar respectively), two printers, and four map monitors. Brian was the squad's strategist while Haddock was the squad's tactician; the two of them making up the squad's security slash scouting and tracking team.

Zechs' station was virtually untouched, though there were a trio of new laptops and a pair of desktops sitting ready for installation that he hadn't had before. Harry's workstation on the other hand was the most changed. It had originally started out the same size as Zechs' workstation but now it was twice the size in length and the former clutter that had once littered nearly all of the work surfaces was mostly gone (or rather more neatly organized).

The longest worktable across the back of the cubicle was filled with countless laptops, each one labeled with the name and pilot of every single suit Harry had ever warded and that wasn't even counting the original three laptops that Harry had used to link up to Wolfstar and the internet (which were still sitting on the work surface closest to Zechs' station along with a desktop and four printers). On the wall behind the worktable with the laptops there were six monitors mounted in two rows of three; two of them monitoring Hogwarts and the veterinary clinic and the last four monitoring different points of the Sanc Kingdom.

On the wall furthest from Zech's workstation (where Harry's area now butted up against the wall where the staircase sat) was a shelving unit filled with several hundred pigeon holes and a large whiteboard. Several dozen of the pigeon holes were labeled with the names of the various species of magical creatures and beings that had become extinct over the last four hundred years or were only one or two individuals away from extinction (based upon the centaurs' records that Harry had been given). The white board on the other hand listed the remaining species of magical creatures and beings, their current population numbers, and how many young (if any) had been born over the last fifteen years.

Below both cubbies and board was another worktable with a smaller supercomputer installed beneath it and two desktops, eight smaller monitors (four of them connected to the supercomputer, two of them for the desktops, and the last two connected to Wolfstar), an extra mouse, and an extra keyboard sitting on top (the last two items attached to the supercomputer); there were no labels on any of those computers but Zechs guessed Harry used them for research or work related to the magical reserve he was building.

The last worktable, which ran along the short wall that separated Harry's entire workstation from the rest of the Command Center, was piled high with paperwork, numerous books, various computer parts, and a bunch of tools. Hung on the inner side of the partial wall that prevented the mess on the table from spilling onto the floor outside of Harry's workspace were a series of empty portraits labeled with names. A small handful of the names affixed to the portraits Zechs recognized from the moving portraits he'd been introduced to when they'd first shown up at Hogwarts to take Harry home. They looked nothing like the original frames so Zechs guessed Harry had been working to create additional frames for the magical paintings so that they could travel between Hogwarts (where most of them had been returned to their former positions in Headmaster's office) and the Command Center as needed so they could contact Harry when he wasn't at the castle.

Moving away from the organized clutter of Harry's station, he next noted that the two doors that had once led to his and Harry's bedrooms had been replaced with a single door. Towards the top of the door hung a sign that said Private Quarters with a small map below it showing the basic layout of the rooms; complete with small labels marking who each room belonged to with several labeled as guest rooms.

The former dorms that had opened up off of the wall where the staircase sat had been converted into a pair of libraries; one labeled Magical Library and the other Technological Library. The other original rooms still led to the kitchen, two bathrooms, and a storeroom that had originally been installed inside of the trunk but another five doors had joined them. The first one was designated as the Conference Room (where Zechs imagined the missing conference table was now housed), the second declared itself the Rec Room, the third was titled Magical Storage, the fourth one was labeled as the Parts Department, and the last door was unlabeled. The generator room beneath the stairs, like Zechs' station, had also remained mostly untouched, though if he were to look inside he'd have noticed a second generator and an additional two fuel tanks had been added.

In the center of the room, where the conference table had once sat, there was now a small lounge filled with a handful of small coffee tables, live plants, small bookshelves, squishy armchairs, and couches. Blocking the lounge off on three and a half sides was a short half-wall; the outside of which had been painted to look like a sparse evergreen forest, each wall representing a different season. Wandering about inside of the forest were the life-sized paintings of extraordinarily life-like wolves of several different types in addition to a herd of white tailed deer, a warren of rabbits, and a small flock of pheasants. The inner walls of the lounge, on the other hand, depicted four different environments; a lush jungle, an arid desert, a deciduous forest, and an open field filled with tall grasses. The occupants of those walls were equally life-sized and life-like snakes from the various regions along with an assortment of the various prey that they typically ate.

"How is this possible? Are those wolves actually moving? Is that some kind of advanced wrap around screen? And are the rooms labeled as magical supposed to be some kind of inside joke?"

"The answer to your first question; it is that magic makes it possible," Harry replied as he carried another box down the stairs and made a beeline for the kitchen, only to pause outside the door to finish answering her questions; Zechs still wandering around taking in the various changes that had been made since he last visited the Command Center. "Yes the wolves are moving and no they are not just an elaborate video played on screen or monitors; they were my tenth attempt at creating a magical painting and my first successful attempt I might add. And finally no; my magic is not an inside joke though those that know of my abilities sometimes crack jokes about my abilities just to tease me."

"But… but…"

"Think of my race as the forefathers of all Newtype abilities," Harry gently suggested. "I suspect that all Newtypes are actually the descendants of the small handful of witches and wizards that fled into space when the first colony was finally cleared for habitation. Over time, their magical cores most likely grew smaller and smaller as they used less and less of their magic for fear of getting caught or of destabilizing the colonies and the magic expended was lost to the vacuum of space instead of being fed back into the Earth. Eventually, their descendants barely had enough magic to manifest one or maybe two particular talents with empathy, telepathy, and telekinesis being predominate because those branches of Mind Magic require the least amount of magic to control. There are of course other talents that appeared as well but from my research those three are the most common ones that have shown up through the years."

"What about those that stayed on Earth? What happened to them? And if magic was slowly lost in space how is it that you apparently have more than those born as Newtypes?"

"Those that remained on Earth were hunted to extinction according to what I have been able to determine, though there might have been a small handful that survived with their magical abilities going the same way as those that fled out into space because the fear of being caught suppressed their cores. I do know that very, very few of the other magicals managed to slip into space undetected survived the genocide. As for me? Well… you see I wasn't exactly born within recent years… technically you could say that I am around four hundred and eighty-eight years old; making me not only the oldest human currently in existence but also the only surviving wizard."

"I find that hard to believe," Noin dryly countered as she glanced about the Command Center once more. "You barely look like you're twelve let alone four, nearly five, centuries old."

"Physically, I am eighteen based upon the actual number of birthdays I've celebrated. I won't go into details on the hows and whys I look like I'm younger since I still haven't found an answer to that myself. As for tacking on the centuries… well let's just say that it involved a manipulative old man, a few backstabbing friends, a desperate godfather, and a few miscalculations that sent me unexpectedly into the future instead of just sending me someplace safe."

"However, we aren't here to discuss Taliesin's abilities or his personal history," Heero interjected as he stuck his head out of the door that was unlabeled. "We've finished setting up the room you requested."

"Thanks, Heero," Harry replied before he addressed Noin once more while he discreetly keyed her into the wards with a flick of his wand. "Could you please bring Miss Catalonia down here? I don't want to give her any reason to claim that any of my brothers or I did anything inappropriate and as such I want to be able to honestly say that none of us so much as laid a finger on her. Zechs, will you please join Heero and Trowa in writing out a list of questions to ask our guest? Noin can help you once she gets back down here since she's spent more time around both your sister and Miss Catalonia and will know which state secrets she might have uncovered during her time here."

Once the others left to attend to their assigned tasks, Harry entered the kitchen, unpacked the supplies he'd collected from his larder, and started a pot of tea. While he was waiting for the water to boil he put together a tray of sliced fruit and vegetable sticks, another of egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches, and a final one with assorted biscuits and scones. Next he filled up a sugar bowl with sugar cubes, poured cream into a small pitcher, and gathered up an assortment of small plates, saucers, tea cups, silverware, and water glasses.

By that time the kettle had been whistling for a couple of minutes and Harry poured the hot water into a teapot and set the tea leaves to steeping before he filled up a second, larger pitcher with ice water. Finished, Harry removed the tea leaves from the teapot and settled all of the trays onto the tea cart he'd purchased to make hauling large meals around easier for when they held conferences in the Command Center (since he couldn't use large amounts of magic inside of the trunk without destabilizing the charms – something he'd come close to doing repeatedly when remodeling the Command Center).

He then wheeled the cart into the interrogation room that had been set up where he found Noin settling Dorothy into one of the chairs while Heero, Trowa, and Zechs sat off to one side writing out a list of questions and Takoda and Jack stood off to one side talking softly. Everyone (but Dorothy who was still under the influence of the stunner Harry had hit her with) turned to glance at him as he entered and Harry noted that Noin was now sporting a rather grim expression; which Harry assumed meant that someone had finally filled her in on what had happened earlier.

"How much time will you be able to give us?" Zechs asked as he looked up from the list of questions.

"Twenty minutes per dose and no more than two doses in any given hour with at least ten minutes between when one dose wears off and the next dose is administered. Any more than that and we'll only end up poisoning her. I brought several bezoar slices just in case but I'd rather not need them at all. Trowa, I'll need you and Jack to monitor her health closely because we don't know if she'll have any adverse reactions to the serum. Heero and Takoda can stand guard in the event that she tries to make a break for it once we inform her that we'll be drugging her with a truth serum. Zechs and Noin will be in charge of the questioning; which means the rest of us need to keep absolutely quiet least we interfere. Quatre, Hilde, and Eric will remain topside to make certain we aren't disturbed. I will of course be handling the administration of the Veritaserum and making certain the entire interrogation is accurately recorded."

Nine and a half hours later, Noin was carrying Dorothy back up into the guest room that Harry had spent a week recovering in. All seven of those that had been present during the interrogation were rather grim faced after listening to just how much Dorothy had done to sabotage Relena's kingdom. In his hand, Harry carried a sixteen foot long roll of parchment that contained a detailed copy of every last bit of information that the young teen had passed back to the Romefeller Foundation (the original scroll holding the written record of the interrogation safely tucked away in the Command Center where it couldn't be destroyed or damaged).

The only two reasons they weren't hauling the teen off to a prison cell was because Relena considered her a friend (despite Dorothy having openly admitting to Relena that she was a spy during the recent invasion attempt) and because Dorothy had truly had a change of heart after she'd confronted Harry on his second night in the palace. She'd also not carried out her final orders; which had been to convince Relena she needed to surrender to the Foundation in order to save lives and take the disposed princess to the Foundation's headquarters.

Noin settled Dorothy into the bed, the young teen having been given a dose of sleeping potion and was not expected to wake up for another eight hours while Harry shrank and returned his leather cord of trunks to his neck. Any disdain Harry had felt for the girl had faded when he learned that she'd been pushed into a corner by her grandfather after her father's death several years earlier (the result of an earlier war that had ended before Harry had arrived on the beach in Japan). Her uncle, who Harry had met during that forced dinner party at Treize's castle, had been killed by the former Alliance not long after Harry had escaped which had only added to her grief and growing contempt for war; contempt that she'd been forced to bury because of her grandfather's beliefs and goals.

"What do we do with her now?" Quatre asked as their small group headed to the door in order to leave Dorothy to sleep off the potion in peace.

"She can't stay here," Noin stated with a sigh. "Her presence will only drive Duke Dermail into attacking again and again; either because she turned traitor to the Foundation's cause or because she's his only granddaughter. Princess Relena won't be pleased but it is best that we not give Romefeller any more reasons to target the Sanc Kingdom."

"So, what; we just let her go?" Heero asked incredulously. "She knows far too much to just let her walk free; even if she did deflect in the end."

"So we give her a choice," Harry interjected as he glanced back to study the sleeping teen. "She either becomes a refugee and we send her someplace where she'll be both safe and free or she joins the Freedom Fighters and helps to take down the Romefeller Foundation. She is intelligent and she won't thank us for making decisions for her though I believe she will understand why she can't stay here. Relena, on the other hand, is the one we need to worry about because it's been over ten hours since we kicked her out of here. We're also planning on taking away someone she's come to view as a friend which will place a bigger burden on Relena because it means she will once more be isolated from her peers."

Nothing further was said as Zechs opened the door and came face to face with a still irate Relena. As the young princess opened her mouth, Harry cut her off by simply placing the copy of the interrogation results into her hands before he walked passed her. Harry had no desire to be lectured for doing what he thought was right and had decided that now was a good time to check on Wolfstar; leaving his brothers, Zechs, and Noin to take the full brunt of Relena's ire (the four members of his squad that were present being quick to follow in Harry's wake). And no, he didn't feel one iota of guilt over leaving them with the irate teen but he would later regret not sticking around for the discussion; especially once Dorothy woke up and gave the others her decision.

Harry wouldn't find out that the Crystal Valley Magical Creature Reserve would be taking in its first official refugee until several days later (on the twenty-sixth after they'd celebrated Christmas Day with Relena) when he was making preparations to return home. Dorothy, it seems, had stubbornly insisted that she would only go where Taliesin went as she had no desire to return home to her grandfather, had no wish to draw further trouble to Relena's doorstep, could not bring herself to take up arms against her grandfather, and refused to be shipped off to another country where she'd most likely be found by the Foundation or one of her grandfather's enemies.

Relena thought it was the perfect solution since it meant that she could hold Taliesin responsible for Dorothy's well being and considered it ample punishment for his highhanded treatment of both of the two young ladies upon his waking up. He supposed he could have simply said no and walked away but the nagging voice in the back of his head (that sounded suspiciously like Hermione) told him he would need willing hands to help him run and rebuild the magical world. Cathy would be there to help keep an eye on the girl (and to act as a chaperone since there were no other adult women on the castle grounds) while Hilde and Patricia would be there to provide companionship for Dorothy since they were both right around Dorothy's age.

Harry's brothers would also start a rotating schedule that would make it so there was always one of them at Hogwarts at all times. Additional refugees with much needed skills would eventually be brought in as well (after being thoroughly screened since they didn't want to risk any spies infiltrating the newborn magical nation). Harry only prayed he'd not come to regret his decision not to fight the proffered solution at any point in the distant future.

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**AN:** _Eep… nearly forgot to get this up… but I made it with just seconds to spare… I'll be posting on Haunted tomorrow as well as replacing more chapters in WWYR1 and IF I get those finished I'll add another chapter here._

_Anyway, as you can see, no Queen of the World since Dorothy didn't manipulate Relena into surrendering. We also finally see what duties each of Harry's squad members have been assigned and why there were so many assigned to his squad aside from the fact that they each have one of the magically enhanced suits. ~ Jenn_


	39. One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 38: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

Harry sat buckled into the passenger seat on the shuttle that would be taking him and his squad back to Crystal Valley; Wolfstar in no state to fly though the sentient suit was once again on-line. Like a sick or injured puppy, the suit 'whined' and fussed from the moment it had regained consciousness and Harry only managed to keep it calm and 'sleeping' by once again carrying the suit around with him everywhere he went. The child-like suit was currently curled up in the seat next to him, partially hidden by Harry's over shirt, his little hands clinging to Harry's undershirt.

Takoda, Jack, Eric, and Hilde were seated just a few seats away, their four suits currently secured in the cargo bay of the shuttle where they could be launched at the first sign of trouble. Heero and Abdul were up in the cockpit running through the pre-flight check as the two of them would be piloting the shuttle; dropping Harry's group off in Scotland and picking up Wufei before heading back to Saudi Arabia and the Winner Estate. Seated directly across from Harry was Major Sally Po, self-assigned chaperone for Dorothy Catalonia who would be making the trip under the influence of yet another sleeping potion as Harry didn't really trust her enough to allow her to know exactly where she would be ending up.

Dorothy had already been secured in a medical gurney not far from where Sally was seated and where the medical officer could keep an eye on the unconscious teen. Just prior to sedating the young sixteen year old, Harry had personally contacted Duke Dermail to let him know that Dorothy would be enjoying his hospitality for the foreseeable future. When Duke Dermail protested and claimed that Harry had no right to kidnap his granddaughter, Harry coldly reminded him that OZ and the Romefeller Foundation had had no right to kidnap his baby brother and they had done it anyway – resulting in said brother's death.

He also told him that the Foundation had had no right to order himself taken with the intention of performing a series of medical experiments on him but they had tried to do so anyway. Dermail had paled slightly over that bit of information, especially when he realized exactly who Harry was; including the fact that Harry was the Demon of the Stars. Dermail then demonstrated his colder side by callously dismissing his granddaughter as a failure and traitor (which wasn't completely unexpected).

Harry had nodded and told him that he had expected just such a response from a man heartless enough to burn the world beneath the fires of war simply because he craved power. Harry then promised Dermail that if he did not step down and disband the Romefeller Foundation (and by extension OZ) by the end of January that Harry would give Dermail the war he was so desperately seeking. It was no idle threat since the Freedom Fighters had destroyed over seven thousand mobile dolls and suits (the additional numbers coming from the back up suits and dolls that had been dispatched when it became apparent that their routing of Treize and the invasion of the Sanc Kingdom was on the verge of failing), close to a hundred transport shuttles, and three naval fleets over the course of forty-eight hours.

That of course, proved that even though the Freedom Fighters had far fewer numbers than any of the other factions currently fighting in the war they were by far the superior force and that the only reason they'd not utterly destroyed everyone else is because they chose to fight for the people and protect the innocents instead. The rest of the world and the colonies took a step back to contemplate the message that had been sent to the entire universe in the wake of the failed large scale invasion. Two factions in particular were most angered (and more than slightly intimidated) by the Freedom Fighter's success in stopping the invasion.

The Romefeller Foundation was angered because the failure was a huge slap in the face; both to their ideals and to the superior military power they believed they had wielded. The group calling themselves the White Fang on the other hand were angered because they'd hoped that the mobile dolls would lay waste to a good portion of the world as the leader of that group, Quinze Quarant, sought revenge against those on Earth. Quarant had been the mastermind behind Operation Meteor along with Dekim Barton; both men one time followers of the original Heero Yuy and both of them blamed all of Earth for Yuy's assassination.

The Rebel Alliance (those who had not joined the Freed Fighters with Sally Po), were disheartened and downtrodden by the events that occurred on the fourteenth and fifteenth of December due to how weakened their forces were due to all of the fighting and Major Po's shift in allegiance. Many of those that had been a part of the Resistance in space felt remorse (those that still lived as many had died over the course of the months since Harry and the others had split from them) and more than a little regret. Treize's group, on the other hand, had been demoralized and humiliated over the fact that Zechs and the Freedom Fighters had stepped in to protect them from the dolls that had been sent to annihilate Treize.

Many of those who'd stayed loyal to Treize were now looking to Zechs for leadership, leaving that small faction even smaller and more broken than it had originally been. Treize himself was more than a little bitter over what he saw as Zechs' betrayal and the loss of Une; the former leader of OZ completely unaware that Lady Une had survived and was currently recovering. By New Years, all three groups (Treize's faction, the Resistance, and the former Alliance) would have disbanded completely; the individual members flocking to the Romefeller Foundation, White Fang, and the Freedom Fighters depending upon their personal beliefs.

Treize vanished completely around the same time; the man looking to lick his wounded pride as he plotted revenge on those he blamed for the loss of everything he'd held dear. He took with him the Epyon; a Gundam he'd secretly built after he'd stepped down as the leader of OZ that had an operating system remarkably similar to the Zero interface in the former Wing Zero (based off information he'd pulled from the Lunar Base network prior to Wufei and Duo unleashing their virus upon the base's mainframe where it had quickly spread to OZ's entire network).

Harry remained blissfully unaware of the chaos he'd left behind after his not quite private conversation with Duke Dermail (the entire conversation having been broadcast across all of the various public networks by his brothers without his knowledge). Chaos that was creating ripples even as the shuttle carrying him home banked to the left and headed north and west towards Scotland.

The wizard was far more focused on mentally going over everything that he would need to take care of the moment they landed; foremost was checking on the creatures and beings under his care. He also needed to meet with Dr. Watanabe in order to get a status report on the various viable embryos that had been growing at the time he left. A thread of unease ran through him when his mind briefly touched upon and then shied away from the knowledge that one of said embryos was in fact his clone. He was also trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with his unexpected guest.

He knew there was no way in hell he was letting her anywhere near any of his computer equipment or any of the suits but could she be trusted to help with the animals? Would she be willing to help with the animals? Did she have any experience with children and if she did, would she be willing to help take care of the cloned children that would be due to be 'born' in roughly eight months? Did he even dare trust her with the children? What did she see herself as doing? Did she expect to be treated as a prisoner or maybe as a guest? Questions he would need to pose to the young lady to obtain the answers he needed which meant he'd be finding himself spending far more time in her presence than he felt completely comfortable with.

Some five hours later, Harry watched as Takoda, Eric, Hilde, and Jack dropped down out of the cargo bay before he hit the switch to close the bay doors. The four pilots would be spending a couple of hours patrolling the entire Valley for any problems before returning to the castle. Harry then returned to his seat as the plane banked sharply as Heero and Abdul prepared to land on the small airstrip that the Maganac had built over the train tracks that had once carried the Hogwarts Express between Hogwarts and London.

The former Hogsmeade Station (which had been in ruins like the rest of Hogsmeade) had been rebuilt and now housed a small control tower and a garage for the jeeps that had been brought in to make traveling between the castle and the airstrip easier without constantly using the mobile suits as a ferry service. A large hanger had been built off to one side to house any airplanes that expected to hold over for a couple of days though none yet that belonged to the reserve (Harry did have plans to buy, borrow, or steal a couple different types aircraft once winter was over though).

"Are you ready to see the unbelievable?" Harry asked as he settled into the back of the jeep beside Sally Po some twenty minutes later.

"As ready as I'm ever going to be, Taliesin," Sally replied with a smile. "I've been looking forward to this day ever since those fine young men you call your brothers returned to the Winner Estate with tales of mythical creatures. I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical at first but what woman wasn't a little girl who once believed in unicorns and mermaids and wished she'd get to see them with her own two eyes."

"Merfolk aren't all they're cracked up to be or at least they weren't but unfortunately they most likely did not survive," Harry corrected with a sad smile. "Once summer arrives, I intend to send an expedition to the bottom of the Black Lake in the hopes that I'll be able to find a small number of survivors or barring that an intact skeleton or two that can be used to bring them back. The unicorns on the other hand, though small in number and close to extinction, still live; there's only about fifteen in total. They have five young foals that were born over the last three and a half years and we'll use cloning to increase their numbers to insure that they continue to survive."

"The population counts of the various species are truly that low?"

"Fawkes, the phoenix that flame-napped me from the Winner Estate, was the very last one of his kind and he'd only hung on as long as he did waiting for me. He sacrificed himself, first to bring me here, and then to allow us a chance to clone him so that phoenixes would live again. Obduro is the last of the centaurs as well and while I've managed to extend his life by several months and hopefully at least another year or two, he won't be with us for long because he too is fairly old for his kind."

"Goblins, veela, satyrs, sphinxes, dragons, and hundreds of others have all disappeared due to there not being enough magic to sustain them; unless, by some stroke of luck, they managed to find shelter at another nexus. Sure, there are some species that most people would think we could do without because they aren't exactly nice but what most people don't realize is that magic, like nature, requires balance. If I can't reestablish that balance then nothing I do will ever work because magic will continue to die; only it will be drawn out over a longer period of time and eventually without the presence of magic even the Earth will begin to die until it is unable to sustain life at all."

"So you will seek to bring back even those that are dangerous?"

"Do I really have the right to decide which species has the right to live just because they aren't cute and cuddly?" Harry countered with a shrug. "I will do the best I can and try to reason with those that have some capability of understanding in order to allow us to live in harmony without disrupting the natural order of things and the others I will have to find a way to control to a certain extent to insure that they don't cause problems. There are only five types of beings I can't or won't bring back. The first is a creature called a dementor and they are an abomination; an experiment gone wrong and allowed to thrive because they were 'useful' as creatures of war and destruction. I see no need to twist and corrupt the world with foul monstrosities. As for the other four, I don't know if it is possible to recreate them."

"Why? And why would you be hesitant to do so?"

"I don't know if the curses that gave rise to their 'species' still exist or if that was one of the first types of magic to die during the slow and steady decline. I certainly have no wish to recreate those curses as I wouldn't wish their conditions upon even my worst enemy let alone a child. That doesn't mean that magic won't recreate them at some point or that it won't be found somewhere down the line."

"And these beings you are referring to?"

"They are vampires, werewolves, hags, and warlocks; all four of them cursed humans. The former two being cursed or rather 'turned' by a carrier of the curses while the latter two are corrupted by their own magic through their own actions. I understand that not all beings afflicted with any one of those curses are bad people, hell my honorary uncle and all time favorite professor was a werewolf; I named Wolfstar after him. But the curses are terrible and they do cause pain for those afflicted."

"If I find any of them still living, then I will not seek to harm them nor will I send them away should they come seeking sanctuary unless they are running around turning people at the drop of a hat or murdering people indiscriminately. Out of all four types of beings the only one I could potentially clone would be the werewolves since vampires, like phoenixes, turn to ash or dust when they die. Hags and warlocks were far too human and their magic would have been lost over time since they can't reproduce (a side affect of their curse) or they were far too visible and were exterminated entirely. Those two have the highest chances of one day coming back on their own after a few generations of witches and wizards have come and gone since there will always be a few individuals that lack morals and seek power and immortality."

"I can see why you wouldn't wish to curse someone with such a terrible fate. I find myself impressed with the maturity you've displayed in making your decisions. And yes, I realize you are eighteen despite appearances but few of the eighteen year olds I have met through my life could have handled such a heavy responsibility as that which has been placed upon you."

"I was never really allowed to be a child before my godfather saved me by shoving me through time; though my friends and former friends tried to teach me how, they weren't quite successful. I think the closest I came to having a childhood were the six weeks I spent with Trowa at the circus. I know that if it weren't for those I now call my family; I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of saving the magical world. Merlin, I doubt I would have stuck around long enough to even contemplate accepting the responsibility because I was far too insecure and bitter before I met Heero and the others."

"It was hard work knocking sense into his thick head too," Heero interjected from where he sat up beside Abdul in the front of the jeep.

Harry mock growled at his brother as the jeep pulled to a stop in front of the castle and Heero took off running with a laugh as Harry chased after him. Sally and Abdul both laughed at their antics, both adults pleased to see the teens act like… well teens. It was not surprising when Duo joined the frolicking pair in the snow as he hit them both in the back of the head with snow balls. What was surprising, for Sally at least, was when Harry pulled out his wand and charmed dozens upon dozens of snow balls to chase and repeatedly attack the long haired teen using a spell the former Weasley twins had taught to Harry back during his first year at Hogwarts over that first winter holiday he'd spent in the castle.

The brief moment of silliness and play ended when an ancient centaur approached the group and Harry immediately stopped fooling around to bow to the elder; treating the aging magical being with complete respect both for his age and his knowledge. The mismatched pair then headed off in the direction of the clinic after asking Sally to help Heero set Dorothy up in one of the unfurnished rooms on the first floor while Duo was asked to find Wufei and Cathy.

Harry intended on extracting an oath from Dorothy before allowing her to run about free or even learn about any of the creatures. He would be doing this using a special type of parchment, a binding potion, and a contract quill; all of which he'd salvaged from beneath the ruins of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop in Hogsmeade. He had business to attend to first though and Dorothy would sleep for at least another two or three hours.

Harry spent the next two hours down at the clinic discussing the collection of genetic material for the various creatures that were currently living on the reserve with Dr. Watanabe. The geneticist was concerned about the chances of actually finding unrelated samples so that a larger range of genetic variances could be used in their re-population efforts. A graveyard hunting expedition was discussed, with Obduro agreeing to show Harry the general locations of where some of the different creatures had been laid to rest over the past several centuries.

Also planned out were trips around the world to investigate other known magical forests to find out if there were other survivors aside from those that had been at Hogwarts; those trips would have to wait until after winter was over since Harry wanted to stay close to Hogwarts during what was a high risk season for the creatures. After their discussion, Dr. Watanabe dragged Harry into the lab so that he could inspect the viable embryos that were currently growing. There wasn't really much to see as far as the young centaurs and the little witches and wizards were concerned but the two phoenix embryos were approximately half of the way through their incubation period.

Harry reminded the doctor to let him know when he thought they were going to be 'hatched' so that he could provide the ashes they would need to survive for their first three months of life. Harry left shortly after that, his eyes studiously avoiding the human embryos as he still felt highly uncomfortable with the idea that he personally had been cloned; still feeling that it wasn't right to curse a child with his bad luck. He understood why it was necessary but that didn't mean he felt any better about it.

Once inside the castle, Harry sagged back against the wall for a minute; slightly overwhelmed by how quickly things had been moving. The moment didn't last long though, Harry couldn't afford to allow his insecurities to get the better of him; he had far too many lives depending on him to permit himself to wallow in self-pity and self-doubt. Pushing away from the wall, Harry strode towards the store room he'd set up to hold everything he'd salvaged from Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. He then spent the next half hour digging through the crates looking for the contract kits he'd salvaged. Once he found them, he grabbed one and went to hunt down his brothers and his self-invited guest only to practically crash into Cathy, who'd been looking for him.

"Oh, there you are; Dorothy woke up a short while ago and I've been looking for you."

"What a coincidence I was just in the process of hunting down the room where she'd been taken," Harry replied as he fell into step beside his sister. "What do you think of our… guest?"

"She's polite and intelligent and right now completely confused," Cathy replied. "Haven't you told her anything about what is going on?"

"Cathy, she's the only granddaughter of Duke Dermail and up until just before we wiped out thousands of mobile dolls sent to crush the Sanc Kingdom she was a spy for the Romefeller Foundation. Do you really think me foolish enough to risk the lives of those who depend upon me simply to put one little girl's fears to rest?"

"Okay, I can understand your reasoning but remember her world has been turned upside down and that she has feelings too."

"I'm not heartless, Cathy; why do you think I simply had her sleep through the flight over instead of tying her up and tossing a sack over her head? All I want is a little security for my charges and to know what she is willing to do to keep herself occupied while she stays here. If she's expecting to be a pampered guest she's in for a rude awakening because we're short handed enough as it is without having to cater to the wants and whims of a spoiled aristocrat."

Cathy huffed but said nothing further on the subject as they walked the rest of the way in silence. It didn't take them long to reach the rather small room where Harry's brothers and the others were waiting. He noted that Dorothy did seem a bit more stressed than she had when he'd first handed her the dose of potion that would allow her to sleep for the duration of the flight. A glance around the room brought to mind the dungeon Harry had stayed in at the Luxembourg Castle only far cleaner and he gave a mental snort as to how she might have viewed waking up in a stone room with nothing but a cot, a table, and two chairs.

"I trust you suffered no ill-effects from the potion, Miss Catalonia?" Harry asked by way of greeting as he dropped the contract kit on the table and began unpacking the various supplies.

"I'm fine, just a little nauseous this time."

"Glad to hear that, I had selected one of the milder potions this time. I'm guessing that you might be allergic to one of the ingredients and will keep that in mind when offering you future potions since most of those meant for ingestion use similar ingredients," Harry replied as he finished arranging everything and sat down across from the teen. "I'm certain you're a little confused and disoriented right now and I do apologize for the necessity but there are some security procedures that you will need to go through before I can have you shown to where you'll be staying while you are here."

Pausing, Harry looked up and pinned Dorothy with a raptor's gaze as he continued in a tone that let her know he was dead serious. "Hundreds of lives depend upon me to protect them and I will not risk their security or their safety needlessly. As such, you will be required to sign a contract and abide by a very strict set of rules. If you don't think that is possible then I need to know now so I can send you somewhere else where you will not endanger those under my care."

"I have already made up my mind, Mr. Bard," Dorothy stubbornly replied as she tipped her chin up just the slightest bit; only her eyes betraying the uncertainty she felt.

"Then let us get down to business," Harry declared in a slightly less intimidating tone.

Thirty-eight minutes and one signed contract later, Harry rose to his feet and pulled out his wand for the first time in Dorothy's presence (at least where she could see it) and used magic to pack everything back up. Dorothy's mouth dropped open in disbelief as the table, chairs, and cot promptly shrank down to the size of doll furniture that were soon tucked into Harry's pockets.

"Would you care for a tour, something to eat, or maybe a place to rest for a while?" Harry asked with a slight smirk on his face as she continued to stare at the ground where the chair she'd been sitting in had once stood.

"How about an explanation instead?" Dorothy half demanded as she collected herself.

"Ah… tour it is then since it is much easier to show you than tell you."

Her reaction to the various creatures was amusing and the fact that she was the only one currently living in Crystal Valley that could not see the thestrals was very telling (Harry had learned that only those who had witnessed death could see the thestrals just a few months earlier when he'd done some research on the creatures). She understood the concept of death well enough but she'd not personally witnessed someone dying (videos and one's imagination not the same thing as seeing death with one's eyes apparently); all of the suits that Harry had destroyed earlier in the month having been unmanned dolls. It meant that despite her status as a spy, her grandfather or someone else close to her had at least tried to shelter her, though Harry suspected it would have only been a matter of time before she'd seen someone cut down.

Dorothy then surprised Harry by asking what he needed help with the most (having already told her that while she could have a choice of chores, she would be pulling her own weight around the reservation). Harry, after giving the matter some thought, told her that what he needed most was more information on every single magical creature or being that ever existed. He needed to know what they were called, where they were found, their environmental needs (habitat), their social behavior, and their breeding or mating habits. As well as their dietary needs and preferences and where they sat on the food chain (i.e. if there were other creatures that preyed upon them or that they preyed upon regularly).

It was also important to know their classification (harmless, dangerous, deadly, pest, or pet), if they had been a source of potion ingredients (hair, fur, scales, skin, blood, bones, eggs, etc), and whether or not they were considered a source of food or raw materials for making clothes (dragon hide, spider silk, wool, meat, etc). He also needed more help with taking care of the actual animals but Dorothy wasn't all that comfortable around the majority of the creatures as she'd never cared for a pet before and while she rode horses she had never actually taken care of them beyond learning how to saddle and bridle them.

Needless to say, she readily agreed to research the animals rather than help feed and care for them and Harry set her up with a small office on the first floor of the castle. He provided her with a desktop (one without an internet connection, that was disconnected from the reserve's network, and warded against tampering), a printer, and close to three hundred books on the various magical creatures and beings (some of which had been published way back in the thirteen hundreds).

Before he returned to the Winner Estate, Wufei (the research guru of Harry's self-made family) helped to create a tracking program for the information that she would be transferring from all of the books that would make accessing what would in the end be a rather daunting database far easier than searching through a series of archaic books. Hilde and Patricia would end up helping the blonde with the large project in addition to their other duties. Harry, in the mean time, spent most of January repairing and upgrading Wolfstar with Duo's help.

As they worked, the two of them quickly discovered that in addition to the stress related structural damage the battle had inflicted upon the sentient suit, Harry's magic had once again changed the suit. The sheer amount of magic running through the entire suit (specifically through those parts that were made from Gundanium) had given the suit a fluidity that it hadn't had before; turning his armor into something more akin to skin or scales and his inner mechanics into something more along the lines of bones and muscles (though they were still made from metals, metal-like alloys, and plastics).

Additionally, the suit picked up a secondary alternate form; his primary form being suit mode and his first alternate form the flight or bird mode. While shocked that the suit could now transform itself into a third distinct form, Harry was not shocked to find that the third form was that of a wolf (the suit was still obsessed with the lupine species after all). Now, instead of sitting on Harry's shoulder in chibi-mode (Duo's name for when Harry shrunk the suits down) or flying along behind him in flight mode, the sentient suit was often found trotting along at Harry's heel.

It was kind of cute, or rather would have been cute if the suit had stayed around chibi-size (around a foot and a half tall) but Wolfstar preferred a slightly bigger stature that had him standing nearly four feet tall at the shoulder (not counting his wings which remained separate from his wolf body and added another two feet to his height). That, of course, put the sentient suit right about the same height as Harry when he was walking on all fours and more along the lines of a small horse or large pony rather than a wolf. In fact, Harry occasionally ended up riding on the back of the suit after it had seen Harry sitting on the back of an old hippogriff so he could better groom the feathers on the back of its head and neck.

While Harry was working on and with Wolfstar to fix the damage done during the battle and upgrading his systems so the next time they fought there would be less of a chance of Harry pushing the suit passed its limits, the world outside of Crystal Valley was changing. Out of the ashes of the destruction Harry and the Freedom Fighters had wrought in seeking to protect the Sanc Kingdom (and therefore promoting Relena's idea of total pacifism) came a new world order. Or rather, the beginning of a new world order rose into being as the war ground to a complete halt on the eighteenth of January when Duke Dermail formally surrendered to Princess Relena (the man considering her far safer to deal with than the Demon of the Stars or any of the Gundam Pilots).

The various leaders of the world in addition to the leaders of the various factions that had been fighting (minus those from White Fang and a handful of others such as Treize since they were not pleased with the recent turn of events) gathered in the Sanc Kingdom to discuss treaties and peace. Harry might have been interested in attending (as the default and de facto leader of the Wizarding Nation) but he had far more important things to worry about and he wasn't ready to announce his floundering nation to the world just yet.

One of those important things was the first in a series of planned forays into the wild forests, cold mountain peeks, and snow filled canyons surrounding Hogsmeade and Hogwarts in the search of the remains of the various magical species that had once made the forests their home. An expedition that Harry would be taking alone, aside from the ever present Wolfstar, as Obduro was far too old to go trekking about the forest in the middle of winter and those other individuals on the reserve couldn't be spared from their current jobs for as long as Harry intended to be gone.

Brian and Haddock would be periodically monitoring his progress from the skies but with winter still in full swing it was more important that they keep watch for any magical creatures that might need their help (especially those that had not taken refuge in the castle or at the clinic). The solitude didn't really bother Harry since it was a rare chance to let himself unwind and think without a hundred different distractions pulling him in different directions constantly. Not that he was ever really completely alone or out of touch given the fact that he had Wolfstar with him in addition to his laptop and he checked in with those at the castle first thing every morning.

The trip was not exactly easy for Harry since his right hand and arm ached constantly from the ever present chill (the damaged nerves still highly sensitive to the extreme cold even after more than a year had passed since he'd first injured the arm). The special glove he wore helped some but it was not perfect and the longer he traveled through the cold the worse it got and there was only so much that could be done with warming charms. He refused to give up though because he knew how important the samples he was trying to gather would be for the future of the entire magical world.

His first successful collection of a mountain troll's skeleton was rather ironic and brought a smile to his face as it was technically the first magical creature he'd ever had close up contact with (if one didn't count half-kneazles and postal owls). It had also been a troll that was the catalyst for the friendship that had sprung up between him and Hermione. He carefully made note of where and when the skeleton had been found and packed up the entire thing (including the club) before searching the area for the remains of any other trolls or other creatures (making use of various locating spells, detection spells, and tracking spells; which was how he'd found the troll skeleton in the first place).

By the end of the first week, Harry had collected a second mountain troll (this one obviously far younger than the first), a trio of red cap skeletons, what he thought might either be a river troll or possibly a forest troll skeleton (both very similar in structure and size but nothing at all like the thick and heavy boned structure of the mountain troll), the partial remains of a bicorn, and a trio of long dead augurey eggs that he'd found in an abandoned nest. Not long after that, Harry reached the first of the burial grounds that Obduro had marked on the map for him; this one being where the centaurs had reverently laid to rest those animals with even the smallest connection to horses (those creatures that centaurs considered their lesser cousins).

Harry found the skeletons of hippogriffs, unicorns, winged horses (several different breeds from all around the world), thestrals, kelpies, rare winged unicorns (a creature born of a winged horse and a unicorn), and rushlows (a fairy-like creature no bigger than a house cat that is horse-like in appearance with the wings of a butterfly). He spent three days carefully cataloging each skeleton or partial skeleton that he carefully packed to take back to the castle (using spells to insure that he gathered three or four unrelated specimens from each breed, species, and sub species present).

Once he had everything packed up and ready to go, he contacted Takoda to arrange for him to pick everything up so he wouldn't have to continue hauling it around. He also asked his friend to bring him supplies; mainly more packing crates, specimen bags, and labels since he carried everything else he might need on him. He met the now twenty year old pilot several miles away from where he'd gathered the equine samples in order to keep his word to the centaur (that no human but Harry and his direct descendants would ever walk the sacred burial grounds and graveyards of the magical creatures and beings).

Takoda ended up camping with Harry that night because Harry was feeling a bit lonely after having been out on his own for over week without another person actually there with him. Sure, he talked to people every morning and throughout the course of the day and he was enjoying the solitude but sometimes it was nice to see people face to face and just hang out.

The next morning they parted ways as Takoda returned to Hogwarts and Harry headed up into the mountains to search for the abandoned nests and remains of the various magical birds that preferred the higher altitudes. He also hoped that he might find the ashes of a phoenix or two since the only phoenix ash he had was that of Fawkes's final burning and there really wasn't enough for two phoenixes let alone dozens of them if he managed to find extra phoenix tears, blood, and feathers amidst the potion ingredients he had in his supplies or had found in Hogsmeade the day Fawkes had brought him back to Crystal Valley.

That of course led him to thinking about what Fred and George had said about Gringotts possibly still standing beneath superior wards and if any thing or one had survived and still lived hidden beneath New London. Making a note to do some research and question the twins and some of the other portraits about the bank and other important buildings (such as St. Mungo's and the Ministry) that had once stood in London once he got home, Harry returned his attention back to the task at hand.

Eight days later, Harry stumbled across the tragic remains of the last flock of diricawls (also known by muggles as dodo birds). They'd been one of the few magical creatures that hadn't sought sanctuary at the castle as they were naturally mistrustful of humans. Harry found them by quite literally stumbling over one of the recently expired bodies when he thought he'd tripped over a rock only to find the unseen feather covered frozen body that had been invisible at the time it had died (and when Harry had tripped over it) with a quick detection spell when he couldn't find what he'd tripped over.

All seventeen birds had frozen sometime in the last two months with the last few perishing just a day before Harry had arrived. He sighed over the needless loss and wished he'd found them sooner but knew the birds would not have welcomed his presence anyway – the birds didn't even trust centaurs. Harry gathered up each of the seventeen corpses and secured them in crates that he placed under stasis spells to prevent them from decaying further.

During the process of gathering the flock, he came across a large clutch of eggs that had been kept warm by a simple fluke; the hen that had been incubating them had been protecting them from the chill and she'd been the absolute last one to die (her death less than twenty-four hours old). Harry immediately cast warming spells around the nest before casting diagnostic spells on the eggs and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that ten of the twenty-eight eggs still lived. Harry decided to call an end to his trip so he could rush the still living eggs back to the clinic because he didn't think he could keep them alive, even with spells, for very long up as high as he was in the mountains.

In the back of his mind (as he loaded up his find into Wolfstar) he also acknowledged the fact that he should have gone home after he'd finished collecting the magical equine skeletons even if his stubbornness might have saved the diricawl eggs. The cold in the valley and forest below had been bad but the harsher temperature and the constant beating of the frigid winds that cut across the mountains made it so he could barely hold his wand due to the pain. He'd only continued on because he needed to feel like he was doing something to help restore the dying populations since it wasn't like he could help with the technical or medical aspect of the cloning.

Sighing, Harry settled into Wolfstar's pilot seat and let the suit take them home while he focused on keeping the small crate, which carried all twenty-eight eggs, warm and stable while ignoring the throbbing, stabbing pain of his right hand and arm. His early and unexpected return (he'd not bothered calling ahead to anyone but Dr. Watanabe) caught most everyone off guard as he hadn't been expected back for another two weeks. As luck would have it, Trowa (who'd traded rotations with Heero for the month of February) caught sight of Wolfstar landing practically on top of the clinic (something that Harry normally wouldn't do) and immediately assumed that something was wrong.

Trowa had immediately contacted the rest of Harry's squad to see if they'd known what was going on even as he hurried across the grounds to the clinic. He'd also contacted Cathy to see if she knew what was going on before trying to raise the staff at the clinic (who were all too busy dealing with the fragile eggs to answer). Harry had just finished explaining his find to Dr. Watanabe and the condition of both the nest and eggs at the time he'd found them when Trowa burst into the room and skidded to a halt.

"What the hell happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" Trowa demanded as he immediately strode up to Harry and began giving him a physical inspection.

"Trowa! Trowa, stop! I'm fine!" Harry protested as Trowa tried to peel off his flight suit.

"Then why did you drop out of nowhere practically on top of the clinic without even letting anyone else know you were coming back early?"

"My mind was a bit preoccupied with the eggs I was transporting and I called the clinic before I landed just outside because I didn't want to carry the eggs through the cold air any more than I had too. And will you please stop trying to undress me!?"

"Explain!" Trowa ordered as he ignored Harry's request as he dropped the top of the flight suit to Harry's waist and pulled Harry's outer shirt off to check on Harry's wings. "And stop squirming… I want to make certain you didn't do yourself further damage out in the cold."

Right about that time Hilde, Patricia, Dorothy, and Cathy poured into the room; the four young ladies concerned after Trowa had called both squad members as well as Cathy just a few minutes earlier (the four of them having been working on entering magical creature data into the database at the time). Dorothy gasped in shock as she had not been aware of Harry's wings and he hadn't really planned on telling her either which is why he was currently glaring at Trowa. Trowa was ignoring him though as he checked for any signs of ice building up between the scales of the wing or blackened edges on the scales which would indicate the presence of scale-rot (as he'd developed after being partially exposed to the cold in space).

Frustrated with his brother's mother-henning, Harry used his freed wings to lift him out of Trowa's grasp and land several feet away. When Trowa tried to chase him down, Harry pulled his wand and threatened to hex him only to end up dropping the wand as his hand chose that moment to cramp up after being exposed to the warmth circulating in the building for a short time (the rather abrupt and vast change in temperature after the many nights of being subjected to freezing temperatures playing havoc on his damaged nerves).

"Merlin's sagging left…" Harry started to curse as he cradled his hand to his stomach.

"Now will you please let me see just how much harm you did to yourself running about in the middle of winter all alone without someone to keep you from ignoring the obvious?" Trowa demanded as he scooped Harry's wand from the floor before Harry could lean down and grab it.

Resigned, Harry huffed and pulled his wings in tight against his back as he allowed Trowa to steer him into the nearest seat. He absently noted that the good doctor had disappeared at some point and that all four ladies were still in the room (Cathy purposefully blocking the only exit – the second door leading into the genetics lab where he'd just delivered the eggs and not an actual way out). Trowa further embarrassed Harry by making him strip down completely to the waist (the other teen not caring that the girls were present) and Harry's entire face and neck turned beet red when all three younger girls openly stared at his bare chest and wings.

"Take off the glove; I want to see what your hand and arm look like since you're obviously in pain and having trouble using it."

Harry complied and yanked the glove off only to immediately regret it as it made the pain triple since the charmed glove was no longer protecting the damaged and sensitive nerves. Normally, Harry's right arm and hand only seemed slightly pale in comparison to the rest of his body (a result of constantly wearing the glove for protection) and the fine scars (due to frostbite from when his suit failed after he'd failed to completely block the multiple blasts from the colony) barely visible. Now, however, the skin on his right hand and arm was currently splotched bright red and pink, indicating that the skin was cold and irritated and it made the fine tracery of scars on his skin stand out sharply in contrast.

"Do you have any of that cold cream with you?" Trowa inquired as he noted just how much pain Harry was in and the current state of his arm.

"Yeah, I have several jars down in my trunk."

"Go grab a jar and a roll of gauze so I can do something about your arm. And Taliesin, you do know you're damn lucky that you didn't end up frostbitten again, you know that right?"

"I honestly didn't think it was that bad. I'd been trying to be careful but I sometimes forget that even magic has limits. I also know I shouldn't have attempted heading up into the mountains until winter broke but I'd been heartened by my first successes and pushed on even when I knew better. If not for the fact that the nest I found still contained live eggs and chose to bring them straight here in order to give them a higher chance of survival I would probably still be out there now."

"You are not to be taking off into the wilds alone again for so much as even one night for the duration of the winter or so long as the temperature remains below forty-degrees Fahrenheit and I don't want to hear one word of complaint or protest from you. Now, go get the cream and the gauze; and don't even think about sitting down in the trunk sulking or attempting to take care of your arm yourself."

Harry scowled at his brother as he removed the leather cord from around his neck and held out his hand to his brother. When Trowa just frowned at him and arched an eyebrow, Harry growled and deadpanned, "I need my wand to restore the trunk, Trowa. Unless you intend to stand around for a few years waiting for me to suddenly develop the ability to cast wandless spells?"

Trowa snorted and passed Harry his wand, albeit somewhat reluctantly because Harry had at least considered hexing him just a short while earlier. To the green-eyed teen's relief, Harry didn't use any spells on him, was only gone for three minutes tops, and merely tucked both wand and trunk away as he passed the requested items to Trowa (his wand taking up temporary home in his back pocket and the necklace of trunks back around his neck). Harry then held perfectly still while Trowa spread the cream over his arm and hand before wrapping it up in gauze; the numbing of the pain making Harry sigh in relief as he sagged back in his seat.

"I didn't even realize it was hurting that bad until now, now that the pain is gone," Harry honestly stated as he closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the wall behind him. "I guess I slowly got used to the pain because the cold started making my hand and arm ache even through the charms right after the first snowfall back in October and I just ignored it since I thought I was protected well enough by the glove I'd made. Maybe its time I dig through my supplies to find me some acromantula silk to weave a proper glove that I can line with basilisk or dragon hide to offer better protection since normal leather just doesn't hold spells as well as magical products do."

"How about you just listen to your body when it tries to tell you something is wrong instead of pushing your body beyond its limitations?" Cathy half growled as she walked up and thwacked Harry on the ear with a finger. "And here I thought you were supposed to be the mature, older brother setting an example for the younger teens."

"S'not like I do it on purpose," Harry groused as he rubbed his now stinging ear and pouted up at his honorary sister. "I just feel like I'm forever one step behind and I'm the only one who is able to find what we need in order to bring back all of the creatures that have been lost over the last five centuries."

"You have a life time ahead of you in which to rebuild."

"I do but not all of the creatures depending on me do and if I had tried harder the diricawl could have been safely ensconced in a special coop for their protection where they would have been safe and out of the cold. Only I didn't think that far enough ahead and an entire species paid for it. Ten fragile eggs out of a total of twenty-eight eggs that had been laid over the last two months; that's all I was in time to save. All seventeen adults were already dead. And even those ten might not survive."

"Even if they don't, you know Dr. Watanabe will be able to create and clone more," Trowa pointed out logically.

"That won't change the fact that I failed the ones that died," Harry snapped back as he stood up and put his shirts back on. "Yes, science allows us to recapture what was lost in the physical sense but each death takes a toll on the rest of the world magically speaking because it's another piece of magic that is forever lost and right now there isn't much in the way of new life replacing what was lost; which further endangers the rest of the creatures."

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose once his wings were safely hidden once more and sighed contritely as he realized he was taking his frustrations out on his brother. Letting his shoulders sag, Harry glanced over the rim of his glasses as he apologized, "I'm sorry, Trowa; I have no business yelling at you for something that is in no way your fault. I'm just tired and frustrated right now. It just seems that for every step forward I manage to take I find myself sliding two steps backwards."

"Go get some rest, Taliesin; I'm sure a hot meal and a warm bed will do you a world of good. Both for your health and your frustration," Trowa suggested as he dropped his hand on Harry's head and ruffled the shorter wizard's hair (letting him know he hadn't taken offense).

"Before you leave, Taliesin; did you wish to check on the progress of the fetuses?" Dr. Watanabe inquired as he stuck his head through the door. "The phoenixes are expected to 'hatch' any day now; we've given them simulated egg shells in order to make the process as natural as possible and we'll need those 'ash nests' you spoke of creating for them soon. The centaurs have reached their sixth month and are developing as well as projected while the first human fetus is well into its second trimester with the second three just approaching their second trimester and the newest four are past their first month; all thirteen are completely healthy."

Poleaxed, Harry stared at the aged doctor and swallowed thickly as he fought the urge to run far and fast while attempting to form a reply at the same time. When he finally did manage to speak, his voice came out a bit high and cracked every couple of words, "I'll get the two nests prepped for you by tomorrow afternoon. And uh… I need to… I've got to… go." And then he was gone, the door slamming shut in his wake from the force of his rushed (and desperate) exit.

"What just happened?" Dorothy asked curiously as she glanced at the sad and morose looks on Trowa's, Cathy's, and Dr. Watanabe's faces.

"That was Taliesin in a panic," Cathy replied softly. "We've been trying to help him get used to the idea of children but he's having a hard time coping."

"Can you blame him? Taliesin once told me he didn't want children because he didn't wish to curse a child with his bad luck," Hilde sadly reminded them as she stared after the child-like teen she had once feared but now respected and followed.

"If he didn't want any children then why are you trying to force him to get used to the idea of having children?" Dorothy asked in confusion.

"You have to understand," Trowa explained in a pained voice as Dr. Watanabe disappeared back into the lab once more now that Taliesin had left. "He's not just trying to save a bunch of rare and special creatures; he's saving an entire world. He is the only survivor of a race of humans that were born with an ability to manipulate energy and matter on a level not seen in close to five hundred years. If he were to die then the world he is trying to save will die with him because he is the only one that can give them what they need."

"You cloned him," Dorothy interjected as she realized exactly where Trowa was leading with his explanation.

"Yes. One of the eight human fetuses currently in the middle of their gestation period is an exact clone of Taliesin. The other seven are clones created from the remains of the people that Taliesin found buried in the damaged section of the castle at the end of summer. Taliesin understands the need to restore the population of his own people in addition to the creatures and other beings he is trying to save but that doesn't make it any easier for him to accept that he will soon become father and teacher for an entire race. And like Hilde said, he feels as if he's already cursed one of those eight precious children because he in essence has given it life."

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**AN:** _Late again… but hopefully the next chapter won't take quite as long to get out. Next chapter will take a closer look at what is happening with the Leaders of the World and a bit of drama between Harry and Dorothy. I'm certain there was more I wanted to say but my mind is running on fumes right now. Anyway, thank you to everyone that has left a review; they are much appreciated and even though I've not been replying I do try to make the time to read all of them, I just haven't had much time lately as real life is encroaching on my fun time. Rude that. Anywho, I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. ~ Jenn_


	40. The New World Order

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**Warning:** _This chapter has a few brief mentions of implied rape (no details)._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 39: The New World Order

Heero tried not to growl as he leaned back in his chair and plastered an attentive look on his face as he listened to a collection of old fossils arguing. It was at times like this that he wondered how he'd managed to let Trowa talk him into switching schedules with him; since it was supposed to be Heero's turn to help out at the reserve. He then sighed as he recalled the concern on Trowa's face when Duo had passed along the information that Taliesin had taken it into his fool mind to go off gallivanting through icy winter forests with no one for company but Wolfstar.

No one knew better than Trowa and Quatre just how much even a little chill could affect the scrawny wizard if anything happened to his wings. It was for that reason that Heero had willingly traded places with Trowa; who had become for all intents and purposes Taliesin's medical doctor over the past two years (well one year and ten months anyway).

Heero frowned slightly as he silently wondered, _When did he suddenly become Taliesin in my mind? He's always been Harry to me… right up until… right up until shortly after I released him from his oath. So, his magic didn't just affect him when it bound him to the oath he'd sworn to obey me. I'll have to ask him if that is anything I should worry about when I see him in a month and a half. _

"Is there something wrong, Heero?"

Glancing up, Heero found Relena watching him with concern and he gave her a small smile as he shook his head negatively in reply to her whispered question and returned his attention to the debate (more like argument) currently being carried on between the various leaders and public figures from the various countries. That of course only had him once again wishing there hadn't been a need to swap schedules with Trowa.

Cutting his eyes to his left, Heero nearly burst out laughing at the look of pained sufferance on Duo's face as the long haired teen slouched dejectedly in his chair and tugged mercilessly on his braid in agitation. It was good to know he wasn't the only one suffering through these useless debates and run-arounds. He suspected Wufei was just as bored and frustrated as well but the young Asian was nothing if not disciplined and he appeared to actually be paying attention to the discussion going on around them.

Forty-five minutes later, when the old men and women still showed no signs of slowing down or stopping (let alone agreeing on anything) Heero slammed his palm down on the table and shoved himself to his feet. Silence fell over the entire room as everyone swiveled to look up into the section of the large auditorium (the only place everyone would fit) where the Freedom Fighter representatives and the Sanc Kingdom delegates (including Princess Relena) had been relegated. Many of the faces of those who felt children had no business being involved in political matters (and there were quite a few among the conservatives) frowned or scowled over Heero's interruption.

"What is the meaning…" one old man began only for Heero to cut him off.

"We have been locked up in this room for countless hours at a time listening to a handful of you argue back and forth like a bunch of children fighting over the last piece of Christmas cake for well over a month. While I understand that everyone has opinions (and they are entitled to them); I don't understand why you are sitting here yelling at each other when you could be working together to actually accomplish something we've been seeking for the last twenty years at least; peace."

"While he could have worded it slightly differently, Mr. Yuy is correct," Relena added once Heero had dropped back into his chair. "We are all tired of the constant fighting and we each hold a different vision of what we think the future should hold; however, each of our visions share a common goal regardless of how we see that goal being accomplished. That common goal is peace; lasting peace and prosperity – a peace that could encompass, not just the entire Earth, but the colonies as well. Despite our differences, we all have one other thing in common besides our desire to end the senseless wars; we are all human. Regardless of where we were born, how we were raised, or where we live; **we** _**are**_** all human**."

"Those of us who were born in the Colonies share far more with those born on the Earth than most people remember," Wufei stated once the applause Relena's stirring words had garnered faded into the background. "Each and every single living person in this universe has family history and ties that sprang forth from the Earth. Generations may have passed since we last set foot on the Earth but no one can deny that the original colonists were men and women that had been born and raised on this planet; men and women who looked to the stars with wonder and hope for what their future might hold."

"And how would you propose we settle our differences?" a rather stately old matron demanded after several minutes of murmured discussion.

"Complete and total disarmament in a show of faith and trust," Relena began only to pause when she felt Heero gently grab her elbow and pull her back into her seat.

"While the concept of total pacifism is an admirable and noble goal, I don't believe it is entirely feasible at this point in time; especially knowing there are still those out there who are opposed to the peace we are trying to establish between the various nations around the world and between Earth and the Colonies. There will always be those who refuse to embrace peace for one reason or another and those people prey upon the rest of society like parasites. I would suggest instead, a partial disarmament; with both the colonies and individual countries discarding their weapons over the course of the next two years while forming a universal army, or a police force if you will, to protect both the Earth and the Colonies from those set against peace. The universal police force could be comprised of men and women from all walks of life and they would work together to quell trouble both here on Earth and out in space."

"And who would run such a force? Who could be trusted to run such a force without the fear of them turning around and taking over?" another voice demanded.

"So we put into place a system of checks and balances that would limit the power of such an army," Wufei answered as he immediately grasped the merits of the compromise Heero had suggested. "A single governing body comprised of elected officials that would represent each nation and each colony that could oversee the universal police force to insure that they are not abusing their position. Funding for the force could be done through taxes garnered from each nation or colony and each nation or colony can sponsor their citizens for a position on the force so that not any one nation or colony has control of either the funding or the loyalty of those men and women who make up the force."

"Such a force would create jobs for those who were displaced by war," Duo added with uncharacteristic seriousness. "It would give those who need ta feel useful and whose only skills are militaristic in nature a productive outlet instead of breedin' discontent because they were 'cast aside' by da rest of da world."

"Why don't we take a recess; take some time to consider our options, come up with potential alternatives, and simply unwind for a while?" Sally Po suggested a few minutes later. "We can reconvene tomorrow morning and continue discussing our future."

By the end of February, an agreement would be reached between the Colonies and nations of Earth (one that was palatable to the pacifists, the liberals, the conservatives, and a number of other political factions) and the Earth Sphere Space Coalition was born. There were still hundreds of details to iron out, a charter to write, and representatives to elect but it was at least a start. The Freedom Fighters would become the core for the Universal Police Force with the newly promoted General Sally Po stepping into the leadership position upon the urging of both the older delegates present at the peace conference and the three Gundam pilots that were attending. Those that had attended the conference left in much higher spirits than what they had come in with as they truly felt like they had accomplished something after all of the bickering.

There were still those that were displeased with the turn of events; Quinze Quarant and his White Fangs were one such faction. Quinze was not about to sit back and allow the new found peace to flourish because he still wanted vengeance and he wished for the Earth to burn. Quinze was also a man willing to do anything to get what he wants.

He started by hunting down and capturing the five scientists that had created the five Gundams (and many other suits) that were originally to be used as part of Operation Meteor. His next move was to begin hunting down Treize Khushrenada since the man was young and charismatic and Quinze believed he could be manipulated into working for the White Fang. When Quinze finally found the twenty-six year old (right about the time E.S.S.C was being formed), he also found the Epyon and a new plan began forming in the aged activist's mind; a plan that involved a dangerous Gundam, a certain child-demon, and the destruction of the entire earth.

Nestled safely away in Crystal Valley within the castle walls of Hogwarts, and completely oblivious to the nefarious plans Quinze was putting into motion, Harry was busy nurturing the reservations two newest residents; a newly hatched pair of phoenixes. Harry had fully intended to leave the raising of the two magical birds to Dr. Watanabe's assistants as they had far more experience but Harry actually didn't have much choice in the matter.

Like most birds, phoenixes imprinted upon the very first person or creature they saw and Harry just happened to have been attending the hatching so he could make certain the ash nest he'd created (out of a large gold bowl salvaged from the castle's kitchen) would keep the chicks warm enough. Whether it was Harry's magic that had unwavering drawn the two birds to him or pure happenstance Harry couldn't say but he still somehow ended up as 'mother' to the two naked newborn chicks.

He half suspected that Trowa, Cathy, and the doctor had conspired to arrange the imprinting because it had meant that Harry would be forced to remain at the castle in order to take care of them because they were so young and fragile that they couldn't even be taken on short trips (especially anywhere in the northern hemisphere since winter wasn't quite over). Oddly enough, Harry really didn't mind either way; he felt that caring for the two infant phoenixes was one way he could repay Fawkes's sacrifices. The care of the tiny male and female also gave Harry something to focus on other than his failures as they needed constant attention (eating like clockwork every two hours and needing to constantly be recovered in their ashes as they wiggled around in their nest).

When he wasn't crushing various berries, fruits, nuts, and grains to make thin gruels for the voracious phoenixes (the magical birds strictly feeding on fruits, nuts, and grains), Harry was modifying the tracking program Wufei had designed for the magical creature database to use on the magical plant index that Harry was preparing to create. Like many species of magical creatures and beings, a number of magical plant and fungi had disappeared through the centuries though most plants had faired better than the creatures because they required less magic and drew their magic directly from the earth. It also helped that Harry had seeds, bulbs, and spores from nearly every single magical plant or fungus in his potion supplies and sparing even a single seed or bulb to grow or clone a new plant would see the lost plants quickly reintroduced and his supplies eventually replenished.

Harry already had plans in place to see the greenhouses (which had been completely destroyed along with every other building on the school grounds bar the castle) rebuilt and anticipated the first round of plantings to take place around the middle of May – or in spring of the following year if there were any delays. He intended on starting with those plants that were known food sources for the various magical herbivores and those with medical uses since those two types of plants were critical to the survival of many species.

It also turns out that Harry had a ready supply of magical fertilizer for the greenhouses in the form of case upon case of dungbombs made from dragon dung; still as fresh and potent as it was the day it had been expelled from the creatures in question. Even the large number of the disgusting prank bombs he'd set off on the Lunar Base hadn't put a dent in his supplies and they were further augmented by the supply of joke bombs that he'd collected from Fred and George's joke shop.

The problem would be getting a complete list of those plants that would be needed since the number of species of magical plants and fungi were somewhere between five and ten times higher than the number of magical species of animals and beings. Which is why Harry was modifying the program Wufei had created so that it could not only pull up information from the plant index but also from the creature database to provide cross references so that he would know which animals needed which plants and which plants could potentially be fatal to a particular species if they ingested it by mistake.

Not to mention it would be good to know which plants would need to be housed separately in a secure greenhouse least someone be accidentally killed (venomous tentacula and mandrakes just two examples of deadly plants that had uses in healing potions). Unfortunately, it would take longer to build the database since there was far more information on both magical and muggle plants (since a number of mundane plants did have useful properties such as aloe and dittany) to be entered.

"When is the last time you actually took a break and just relaxed?"

Harry's hands were reaching for his knives before his brain caught up with itself and only the fact that he'd stopped carrying his throwing knives while on the reservation (after nearly skewering a gnarled garden gnome back in the fall) had saved Dorothy from an impromptu stabbing. Cursing long ingrained habits and the high level of paranoia he'd cultivated all of his life and a certain individual's annoying habit of sneaking up on him, Harry closed his eyes, dropped his elbows on his workstation, and began massaging his temples in hopes of soothing away the headache he could feel building.

"You know you wouldn't suffer from headaches so often if you actually rested once in a while."

Harry snorted since he well knew how impossible it was to actually get any real rest while he was trying to get the reservation running properly, coordinating the re-population programs, trying to make certain that the repairs were continuing as scheduled, and taking care of the one week old twin phoenixes that Harry had named Spera and Spero (both names meaning hope in Latin). It wasn't like he could just take off and take a vacation; especially not with the chicks just now starting to grow a layer of soft red and gold down all over their scrawny bodies. He sighed a moment later as he pulled off his glasses, leaned back in his chair, and spun around so he could face Dorothy where she was standing in the doorway to his office slash workshop.

"Was there something in particular you needed from me, Miss Catalonia?" Harry asked tiredly.

"Not exactly… I was volunteered to drag you out of your office by the others," Dorothy admitted without any shame. "I was told to remind you that Heero would be arriving in a few hours and that Trowa would be leaving this evening."

"I appreciate you taking the time to deliver the message about my brothers but I have too many things I need to get done to just walk away right now," Harry stated as he put his glasses back on and swung back to face the computer screen.

"You have to be one of the most stubborn people I have ever met."

"You aren't the first person to notice."

"Why do you push yourself so hard?"

"Habit and necessity."

"That's it? You continuously drive yourself into the ground because it is habit?" Dorothy demanded in disbelief after disregarding his added comment about necessity.

"Sorta," Harry as he glanced over his shoulder at the sixteen (almost seventeen) year old who was now hovering just behind him. "It would be far too difficult to put into words everything that has made me whom I am today so I summed it up with the first two words that came to mind."

Silence fell once more as Harry went back to his work, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the keyboard as he ran through yet another simulation with the program to see if he'd finally worked the bugs out of it. When it looked like it was going to work properly, Harry reached forward to grab his first year herbology book (_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore); intent on entering the information of a dozen or so plants so he could run a live test.

He'd just cracked open the book to the first entry when he felt a pair of small hands drop onto his shoulders and he froze for a split second as he felt those hand applying pressure as they moved towards the back of his neck. An instant later his chair, the book, and the laptop he'd been using crashed to the ground as he rocketed out and away from both his chair and the hands, his heart pounding wildly and breathing labored as he dropped into a defensive stance well out of arms reach from Dorothy who was watching him in confusion.

"Get out," Harry ordered tightly as his magic swirled around him in agitation.

"I only wanted to…"

"Get out."

"Look, I'm sorry; I was just going to…"

"I said… _get out_."

"No. Not until I explain."

"I don't fucking care what you have to say… leave now."

To Harry's surprise (and ire) the young blonde didn't back down as she stepped closer, jutted out her chin, and crossed her arms. He was so used to her behaving rather meekly since her arrival (mostly due to the fact that she'd been hit with shock after shock from the moment she woke up) that he'd nearly forgotten that she had a rather confrontational personality. Gritting his teeth, he narrowed his eyes and considered drawing his wand as he contemplated just hexing her straight out.

"I realize that you and I are not the best of friends and I've tried…"

"I still don't care and you have fifteen seconds to haul your ass out of my office or I'm going to do it for you."

"If you think I'm just going to let you walk all over me…"

"Eleven seconds…"

"I don't care who you think you are…"

"Seven seconds…"

"If you would just shut up and listen…"

"Three seconds…"

Dorothy gave a cry of frustration before she strode across the short distance separating them and tried to slap Harry. Harry caught her by the wrist and his expression darkened as he opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind when she stomped on his foot, kicked his shin, and slapped him hard with her other hand. He retaliated by hitting the pressure points in her wrist and elbow of both arms with short, hard jabs that made her arms and hands go weak and numb before shoving her backwards with a open palmed strike to the stomach. Harry half hoped that she'd flee the room at that point but she only seemed to grow more determined as she jumped right back into the scuffle, this time attempting to sweep his feet out from under him.

He jumped the sweeping kick, blocked a strike aimed at his stomach, and prevented her from kneeing him in the crotch as he pulled out his wand and prepared to stun her. His wand went skittering across the floor a moment later as she managed to land a sharp blow to his right wrist that sent pain shooting through his entire right arm due to the damaged nerves (his arm unprotected at the moment because Trowa had applied a fresh layer of the healing cream on his arm just a few hours earlier because he'd spent the morning out in the cold gathering firewood for the fireplaces). He grabbed her arm with his left hand and prepared to toss her over his shoulder only she grabbed hold of the back of his unbuttoned over shirt before he completed the throw and the two of them ended up tumbling to the floor as Harry's wings spilled out of the shirt as it was ripped almost in half.

White hot pain shot through Harry's entire left wing, back, and shoulder as he landed roughly on his left wing with Dorothy's weight bearing down on top of him and the wing. Dorothy recovered first, the pain addling Harry's head and slowing his reactions, and he felt her straddle his stomach; her knees digging painfully into his wings. She managed to slap him twice more across the face before he captured her wrists with his hands and wrapped them in an iron grip. The two of them then spent five minutes breathing laboriously as they glared at each other, Harry's eyes tinted red and gold and filled with more than a little pain while Dorothy's were filled with anger and frustration.

Several things happened at once at that point. Dorothy moved backwards to break Harry's hold on her wrist causing her long skirt to bunch up further around her waist as she ended up sitting on Harry's lap. The pain of her knees pulling on the scales of his wings and grinding them into the hard stone floor had Harry closing his eyes as he hissed in pain and arched his back and hips off the floor in an effort to move her off his wings in order to relieve the pain. And the door to Harry's office opened up as Heero and Trowa walked in looking for Harry, who they'd expected to find in the Great Hall waiting to greet them. Needless to say the two pilots immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion when they caught sight of Harry and Dorothy tangled up on the floor.

"I really don't think this is what Cathy had in mind when she said Taliesin needed to relax more," Trowa deadpanned as Heero snapped the door shut behind them.

Dorothy gasped in shock at their newly arrived audience only to flush scarlet when she immediately realized what it was the two pilots thought the two of them were doing. She immediately began struggling to free her hands but that only added to Harry's pain as she put more of her weight on his wings and twisted as she tried to get free. Harry bit back a scream as he switched both of her wrists to his left hand and shoved her left knee off of his right wing which spilled her forward onto his body and brought them face to face. Harry then rolled them so that their positions were reversed and slammed her hands against the floor above her head as he sat there trembling, his left wing hanging crookedly and more than a few of the scales painfully bent out of shape and bleeding from where they'd been ground against the stones. His eyes never left Dorothy's though as he struggled to catch his breath and desperately waited for the pain to subside.

It was the sight of Harry's damaged and bleeding wing that made the two pilots reassess the situation as they now took in Harry's discarded wand, his overturned chair, the carelessly dropped book, the running laptop sitting upside down on the floor, and Harry's partially torn shirt hanging from his arms. As one, Heero and Trowa pulled out their pistols and approached the pair on the floor cautiously from opposite sides. As he moved closer, Heero noted how red the left side of Harry's face was and guessed he'd been slapped at least once before noting that Harry was currently connected to the Zero system; which meant that they could expect Wolfstar to barge in any minute.

"One of you want to explain what the hell is going on?" Heero asked in a deadly soft voice.

"The others sent me to drag Taliesin out of his office and after he refused he threw a hissy fit when I tried to help him with the headache he had. He was being a stubborn jerk and I tried to apologize for startling him but he wouldn't listen. He made me so mad I tried to slap him and it degenerated into a brawl from there and not… that is we weren't… what you saw wasn't what you thought it was…" Dorothy explained, her face turning a bright red as she got to the end of her explanation as she recalled exactly what it was Trowa had insinuated the two of them were doing.

"Anything you want to add to that, Taliesin…?"

Harry didn't respond as he let go of Dorothy's wrists and slowly sat up so he was no longer lying on top of her. The change in position made him realize exactly how and where he'd been lying and the blood drained from his face as he scrambled backwards as if burned. In his hurry to get away he trampled over both wings and ended up sprawled on his back once more. He was trying to get up once more when Wolfstar (in wolf form) plowed into the office growling and the suit ended up pinning Harry to the floor a second time as the huge metal wolf placed itself protectively over Harry.

Spera and Spero, of course, chose that moment to wake up and add their hungry cries to the cacophony of sound filling the office while the scent of blood had drawn Orsa (the female thestral yearling) into the room in search of food (the filly frequently sneaking into the castle looking for food and Harry). The noise pouring from the usually quiet office had, of course, drawn everyone else in the castle and the small antechamber was soon packed with people which had the level of noise skyrocketing.

That was the last straw as far as Harry was concerned and he let out a scream of pure frustration and pain that had the entire room suddenly falling silent as a tomb as everyone turned his way. Panting heavily, Harry shoved Wolfstar off of him (no easy feat despite the fact that a weight reduction spell had been cast on the sentient suit) and climbed weakly to his feet as his magic pulsed around him in a visible aura and he pointed to the door and coldly ordered, "Out… just get out. I want all of you out _right now_. Do not make me say it twice or by Merlin and all that is unholy you will _not_ like the results."

Most everyone beat a hasty retreat, few of them ever having seen him quite that pissed; Cathy making certain to herd the half grown thestral out with her. When the partially ruined door slammed shut at last there were only seven beings still in the room; Harry, Heero, Trowa, Dorothy, Wolfstar, Spera, and Spero. Wolfstar's growl deepened and gained a feral undertone as Harry tapped even further into his connection with Zero in his anger while the maelstrom surrounding Harry grew denser as his wing tips ignited. Dorothy flinched but made no move to leave while Harry's two brothers swallowed thickly and stubbornly held their ground. The two little phoenixes on the other hand stayed oddly quiet as Harry's out of control magic saturated the very air in the room with his anger and instinctively the little birds knew that 'danger' lurked nearby.

"You are in no fit state to take care of your wing even if you could reach the damaged scales," Trowa stated boldly when Harry took a single step forward. "Once your injuries have been tended I will willingly leave you alone as you asked."

"Ditto," Heero drawled as he tucked away his gun (so as to not appear threatening) and crossed his arms.

"I'm still waiting for you to let me finish what I was saying," Dorothy declared in a voice that wavered slightly, once the three young men turned to look in her direction.

"The sooner you calm down, Taliesin, the sooner we will be able to leave," Heero added as he reached out to right Harry's chair and picked both laptop and book up off the floor.

Harry stood there staring at them for nearly ten minutes before he turned away from them and strode over to pick up his wand. Heero and Trowa tensed but otherwise showed no sign that they were nervous about the fact that Harry had armed himself once again. The young mage ignored them though and used his wand to regain control of his magic by casting the spell that the portraits had taught him months earlier to siphon off excess magic into the castle.

The spell itself is known as the 'dead spell' also called the 'empty spell' and it is typically used to help young and magically weak wizards and witches to exercise their cores (in the hopes that their cores will either grow or produce a larger amount of magic). In the case of extremely powerful wizards, the same spell is used to bleed off large amounts of magic and help them gain better control of their magic which would make their spell work more efficient and effective. Draining off a large amount of magic prior to casting higher level spells also allowed them to safely expend the excess magic so that they don't overpower delicate spells at an inopportune moment and kill themselves with an explosive magical backlash.

The spell would take anywhere from one quarter to one half of the wizard's (or witch's) magic and feed it into the nearest receptacle (usually a building, a magical device, or the earth). In Harry's case, he poured his magic directly into the castle (something he'd been doing periodically since he'd first learned the spell and the current boost would reactivate a number of secret passageways that had gone dormant two centuries earlier when the castle's defenses began shutting down the enchantments that weren't essential to protecting the castle).

It was a testament to just how powerful Harry was that it took him casting the empty spell six times just to dispel the visible aura of magic surrounding him and another eight times to drop his reserves low enough that he could control his magic and douse the flames that had been dancing across his wings. He could have just pulled the magic back into his core but it would have taken far longer for him to regain control and the castle needed the extra magic in order for the various wards and enchantments still active to continuing functioning as intended (including the newly reactivated hidden passages and shortcuts). The numbness that had filled him in his rage receded with his magic, allowing his former pain to rush back into place and he sagged sideways into Wolfstar as his left wing drooped while his right wing pulled in tight against his body.

"Thank you, Taliesin; why don't you sit down so I can take a look to see how badly damaged your wing is?"

Harry nodded wearily after a moment and patted Wolfstar's shoulder. The sentient suit then turned so Harry could reach the door to the cockpit, which still sat on the suit's chest in wolf mode, and pulled out his magical first aide kit (the inner storage cupboards not affected by Wolfstar's reduced stature). The mechanical wolf then dropped down onto his belly beside Harry as the wizard passed Trowa the first aide kit. Harry in turn sprawled himself belly down over Wolfstar's back with both of his wings carefully propped up on Wolfstar's wings so that Trowa would be able to easily reach the damaged scales on both wings (the right wing merely bruised).

"Heero, can I get you to hold his shoulders steady while I work?"

Harry tensed at the contact but otherwise ignored it as he closed his eyes and pressed his face into Wolfstar's neck. The next thirty minutes or so passed agonizingly slow for Harry as Trowa carefully straightened out each scale and spread a healing cream over the scrapes from where the floor had rubbed the outer casing of the scales away. He also applied bruise cream to the bruises, which showed up as dark purplish-black blotches on Harry's wings, to help numb the pain and speed up the healing of those areas. Finally, the green eyed teen gently wrapped each damaged scale on the left wing in gauze that would prevent the cream from being wiped off.

"All done; any other injuries I need to worry about?"

"The bandages on my right arm are unraveling and half the cold cream has been scraped off," Harry murmured in a low voice as he sat up and spun so he was facing Trowa as he held out the arm in question.

"So… are you going to tell us what set you off?" Heero asked casually as he glanced between Harry's profile and Dorothy, who was sitting on the floor massaging her bruised wrists and hands (from Harry grabbing her wrists and then slamming her hands down onto the floor).

"I don't want to talk about it."

"In that case… Miss Catalonia, care to illuminate exactly what you were doing when he threw his… what did you call it again…? Ah… hissy fit I think it was?"

"He was tense and I could tell he had a headache so I was going to give him a massage… like I used to sometimes do for my uncle before he died. I only wanted to help."

"Let me guess… you didn't warn him of your intent or ask for his permission and the moment you touched him he flew off the handle?"

"Yes… and when I tried to apologize for startling him and tried to explain what I was going to do he refused to listen and he just made me so frustrated."

"Join the club," Heero snorted earning a scowl and a glare from Harry.

"When are you going to talk to someone about what happened, Taliesin?" Trowa asked softly into the silence as he felt the tension radiating off of Harry as he finished rewrapping his right arm. "Maybe it was a mistake not to push you regarding those memories but we had hoped that you would come to us in time in order to deal with the baggage those memories left you with when you felt more comfortable around us. If you just continue to bottle the pain up inside of you it's only going to get worse; not better. And yes I know you've dealt with some of it on your own but it is obvious that you are still hurting."

"Don't… just don't even go there, Trowa," Harry rasped as he jerked his arm free.

"Yet it is okay for you to lash out because someone made an honest mistake?" Heero demanded as he reached out and turned Harry's head so that Harry could see Dorothy's wrists. "I realize you've kept a tight leash on your temper since last summer but how long will it last before someone or something sets you off again?"

"I didn't do that in anger or because she caught me off guard; that only happened because I was in pain and desperate to get her off my wings and stopped holding back."

"And that's supposed to make it better?" Heero countered disdainfully as he plucked the jar of bruise cream off Wolfstar's back, shoved it into Harry's left hand, and propelled Harry towards Dorothy. "The least you can do is treat the bruises you caused now that your injuries have been tended to and have the common courtesy to hear her out."

"She attacked me and suddenly I'm the one who was wrong? All I did was defend myself!"

"Taliesin Bard, kindly act your age unless you wish to be treated as the child you so greatly resemble both in appearance and attitude right now," Heero barked out in a near growl.

Harry flinched at the rebuke and the truth behind the rather hurtful words before he bowed his head and dropped down into a crouch beside Dorothy who flinched in turn (the young teen more than a little intimidated by everything she had witnessed since entering the office). Without looking her in the eye, Harry opened the jar of bruise balm before he gently captured her left hand in his right hand and began spreading the soothing, numbing cream over the back of her hand and around her wrist. When he finished with her first hand he traded it for her other hand and continued his ministrations with the same level of tenderness he used when he interacted with the various magical creatures in his care.

Once he was done with both, he started to replace the lid on the jar only to freeze as Dorothy gently pulled the jar from his hands. Harry then stopped breathing altogether as she collected a dab of the cream onto her fingers, pulled off Harry's glasses, and began spreading it across Harry's bruised left cheek and the shiner that had eventually developed under and to the side of his left eye (where she'd slapped him pretty hard a total of three times).

The only thing keeping him from flinching away from her touch was the knowledge that his brothers would use his response as leverage in order to badger him into discussing his darkest memories. His eyes fell closed of their own accord as he became slightly lightheaded due to a lack of oxygen as he couldn't help but focus entirely on the feeling of her fingers ghosting across his face. He sucked in a sharp breath as his lungs began burning and the scent of bruise balm, chocolate, and peppermint washed over him causing his stomach to flip-flop unexpectedly as he began trembling.

A wave of vertigo assaulted him and he dropped forward onto his knees to avoid falling backwards onto his wings yet again and breathed in another dose of peppermint, chocolate, and balm as he felt Dorothy's breath brush across his face. Opening his eyes, he found himself practically nose to nose with the blonde, her right hand still pressed to the side of his face as her violet eyes stared into his mismatched eyes in surprise. His heart skipped a beat and he couldn't seem to remember how to breathe as he watched her eyes flicker down to his lips for a brief instant.

Unable to help himself he mimicked her and felt his stomach flip-flop a second time as he saw the tip of her tongue moisten her lips before she caught her bottom lip between her teeth in a show of nervousness. His breath caught in the back of his throat as he tore his eyes away from her mouth in time to look up to see her eyes fluttering closed as she leaned imperceptively closer. Harry's eyes widened as he realized exactly what she meant to do a mere heartbeat before she did and then her soft, warm, and slightly moist lips were pressed to his and the world stood still.

The butterflies that had been churning in his stomach since she first began applying the balm to his bruises dropped unexpectedly lower as he felt warmth pooling in his belly. He felt her left fist tangle in the collar of his undershirt as she leaned into the kiss a bit more and turned her head a touch to the side so that their noses were now side by side instead of tip to tip and Harry let out a barely heard moan as his eyes fell shut once more and the world seemed to close in around him until the only thing he knew existed were the lips gently but firmly pressed against his.

Almost instinctively, Harry began leaning into the kiss as the warmth in his belly began spreading outwards and his hands developed minds of their own as they reached up to cup Dorothy's elbows before sliding up the outside of her arms to the top of her shoulders where they buried themselves in her long hair. Her soft moan of appreciation set his wings to shivering in anticipation as he felt her breath ghost over his lips when her lips parted slightly. Reality chose that moment to reassert itself as a hand fell on Harry's shoulder and he heard a voice speaking.

"I think we get the idea, buddy boy."

When realization of what he'd just been doing shot through Harry, he jerked back sharply only to find he had no where to go because someone was standing right behind him with their hand still on his shoulder and he began to hyperventilate. The knowledge that he'd just experienced his first ever kiss was soon superimposed with the dark memory of how the Yule Ball during his fourth year at Hogwarts ended for him and he reached up to press a hand to his mouth as he desperately fought the nausea rising in his stomach. A strangled sob escaped from behind his hand as the hand trapping him in place combined with hearing the word boy and his previous activity, pulled loose a fraction of that memory to play through his mind as he heard that hated oily voice hissing in his ears once more.

"_I see you've been reaching above your station again, boy,_" _Snape hissed as he fisted his hand in the robes of Harry's left shoulder and propelled him through a deserted hallway towards the dungeons. _"_I think it is past time I remind you exactly what that mouth of yours is for… and it isn't for chatting up or attempting to kiss pretty little girls._"

He lost the battle against his stomach as he forcibly shoved the memory back into the depths of his mind and he rolled sideways onto his hands and knees as he emptied his stomach. When he looked back up he saw Heero holding Dorothy firmly behind him as she struggled to free herself and as their eyes met Harry felt his stomach twist painfully as he misread the look in her eyes. Shame filled him as he realized what he'd just done, what he'd just subjected her to, and he babbled out a barely coherent apology as he twisted out of Trowa's grip and drunkenly headed towards the door only to be brought up short by the renewed cries of the phoenix twins.

Duty warred with the need to flee for a brief instant before he dashed across the room, scooped up the two birds, and disappeared out the door so quickly that the three left behind could have sworn he simply vanished.

Dorothy stopped struggling the moment he was gone and pressed her hands to her face while Heero and Trowa just stared at each other in growing alarm as they realized Taliesin could literally disappear completely if he wished and they would have no way of finding him. Cursing, Heero glanced at the teen that he was now holding up as she sagged against him, clearly distraught. This was so _not_ how he'd intended on spending the afternoon and evening of what was supposed to be a relaxing _vacation_ after the headache inducing political battles of the Peace Conference.

"Take her to Cathy, Heero; she'll be able to help her better than we could. I'll gather up Takoda and the others and start searching. Also, if you could call the Estate and tell them I'll be staying here until further notice… in fact, tell Quatre to drop what he's doing and catch the first flight up here as well as he's always had an easier time dealing with Taliesin when he's floundering since he can read Taliesin's emotions far more accurately than the rest of us."

Eight hours later, Quatre, Duo, Wufei, and all but a handful of the Maganac Corps poured into the entrance hall with Duo playing unwilling taxi to a pair of irate cobras (one red and one black); Quatre having pulled strings to get Wufei and Duo out of attending the peace conference shortly after Heero had contacted him. Quatre's eyes were drawn upwards the moment he stepped into the castle; Harry's emotions loud and all over the place as they continuously cycled between guilt, shame, disgust, anger, hate, regret, confusion, and longing.

Heero, Trowa, and Harry's squad joined them a moment later and the five original Gundam pilots all shared a silent conversation in a single glance before they turned as one and followed Quatre up the stairs; the blonde's Space Heart leading him directly to Harry. The others simply dispersed to take care of those things that needed to be done so that the five teens could concentrate on putting the young wizard back together again. Something they had done many times over the past two years.

It took them a full day to talk Harry into unlocking the door to the old Gryffindor Common Room (with the help of the two snakes hissing out obscenities and accusations of neglect – not that the five pilots knew that). It took two days before he acknowledged them in any way, yet another full day before he finally broke down and gave into the pressure they'd been slowly exerting on him, and a good four days to paint a full and complete picture of what his life had been like both before and during his years at Hogwarts (including all the details he'd previously left out of his talks and stories).

He talked himself hoarse for hours, cried himself to sleep repeatedly, and ran through an entire gamut of emotions as he bared his soul and what he saw as his worst sins to his five brothers. His brothers in turn listened to him when he spoke, held him when he cried, gave him encouragement when he faltered, let him know he wasn't alone, and above all never judged him or blamed him for those things that been done to him or that he'd been forced to do against his will.

When it was over, Harry felt completely wrung out and far lighter than he ever expected to feel. He also slept for nearly a full day from the sheer exhaustion of purging a good deal of the negativity from his soul. And while Harry felt more than a little uncomfortable knowing his brothers knew everything he'd been through (in far more detail than they had previously known) it was also a relief knowing they still accepted him no matter what. Another two full days were spent discussing everything that had happened the day Heero arrived, Harry's reactions, and what Harry planned to do when it came time to face Dorothy and the others again.

They also addressed Harry's feelings regarding the now five month old clone and why the child bothered him so much. That led to Harry dredging up all of his insecurities; how he didn't know how to be a father, how he feared any child of his would hate him because of who he was, and the barest whisper of the fear that lingered because of a promise Snape had once whispered in his ear. A promise that if Dumbledore ever allowed Harry to father a child before they killed him off for his money that Snape would be sure to 'teach' his child his or her proper place in the world; much as he'd been 'teaching' Harry his proper place. (One of the many memories that Harry had suppressed deep within his consciousness for the past four years that had been dredged up during Harry's long talk.)

His brothers then took a day to catch Harry up on all of the world news he'd been missing out on while buried in his work at the reserve (and taking care of the phoenixes). They spoke of Dermail's surrender, the peace conference, the Earth Sphere Space Coalition, the Universal Police Force, and the growing trouble being caused by the White Fang. Nearly thirteen days after Harry's rather violent and spectacular break down, the six of them reemerged from the Gryffindor Common Room and just before they joined everyone for supper Harry gave a very public and sincere apology to Dorothy and to everyone he'd directed his anger at that day.

And while Harry remained rather silent and withdrawn, his emotions were far more stable than they had been at any time over the past five years (his fourth year at Hogwarts included).

* * *

**Translations:** Latin to English

Spera – hopes  
Spero – to hope

* * *

**AN:**_ Still no queen of the world but there is something of a world government forming in the wake of Dermail's surrender. We also see Quinze aiming for a different figurehead for the White Fang since Zechs is firmly entrenched with the Freedom Fighters. And while there are no Preventers, per say, the U.P.F. is a similar concept in some ways. _

_I hope I managed to portray both Harry's and Dorothy's stubbornness during their short scuffle; I did promise you drama after all. And don't worry one stolen kiss doesn't mean that they'll suddenly be all over each other in the next chapter. There will be more tension and drama with a dash of angst first. _

_Harry has also finally dealt with the last of the emotional and mental baggage that he's been suppressing since he regained his memories at the start of the story. Which means that his reactions to certain situations won't be as severe as they have been in the past. I can hear the cries of FINALLY from my computer over that. _

_And last but not least... the next chapter will have a bit of entertainment, another small drama scene, and a few clues on what happened to certain individuals from the past. Oh, and if anyone is interested, I just posted a new one shot entitled Good Intentions along with this chapter and the one I posted on Haunted. It's one that I've been writing bit by bit over the past two years in between everything else I've done. I should have the last of the edits done on WWYR1 soon too, only seven or eight chapters remain (one of which has all new material that I wrote to fix the plot holes). ~ Jenn_


	41. A Measure of Closure

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 40: A Measure of Closure

After the meal the Great Hall took on an expectant air as the Maganacs goaded Harry into showing off his latest tricks; something he'd not done since the summer before. He eventually acquiesced though he didn't wear his usual grin of anticipation as the center of the room was cleared and a protective barrier put up to protect those watching. Harry then used a quick spell to temporarily expand the already high ceiling up another ten feet just in case while a quick trip into his supply trunk netted him all sixteen of his throwing knives and his deck of throwing cards. The knives quickly disappeared into his clothes the moment he was back in the center of the hall while he started off with a few simple tricks with his rather deadly deck of cards.

Not long after that he had the entire deck up in the air as he systematically snatched the cards from the air while performing a few rather dangerous tricks. All sixteen blades eventually joined the cards for a couple of minutes before they disappeared back into his clothes. After about ten minutes, Harry did something he'd never done before during his card tricks; he let the cards fall to the ground so that they landed face down in a circle around him.

A few people began to clap only to stop when Harry held up a hand to silently tell them to wait while he pulled out his wand. Now, while every one present had seen Harry perform magic time and time again very few of them had ever actually seen Harry _perform_ magic; in other words use his magic simply to entertain an audience. He started with a simple levitation spell that lifted all fifty four cards into the air and set them in a staggered pair of circles around him.

He then clasped his wand in his mouth as he slipped his shirt off to free his wings. Fully healed now (and recently shed for the second time ever), the wings looked shiny and healthy as they stretched out to on either side of him before snapping back behind him. A banishing spell sent his shirt out of his way after he reclaimed his wand and Harry bowed his head for a moment as he lifted both hands slightly higher than his head; posing much like a conductor of an orchestra might post just before starting the concert. When he looked up a moment later his eyes were glowing not with his connection to Zero but with barely suppressed power as he unleashed a shower of gold sparks that brightened the torch lit hall.

He then began making his floating cards dance to some unheard melody as they lazily twirled and spun around each other and him. Another spell had blue and purple bubbles floating about as the cards continued to waltz around Harry. Next, Harry shocked a number of people when he transformed his silver cards into silver doves that circled around him once more before driving towards the floor where another spell changed them into silver mice that scattered in every direction before he turned them into silver cobras. The cobras then began dancing and circling in and around each other while Harry conjured a flock of white doves that exploded into a shower of white feathers that morphed into white flower petals that rained down all around Harry.

Next he merged all of the snakes into a single giant snake whose head Harry stepped up onto as it rose up high before shattering into playing cards once more leaving Harry to gently float back to the floor using his wings. As the cards rained down on the floor, their sharp edges cut right through the floor and they seemingly vanished from sight completely. A minute later, silver flowers were growing up out of the floor in a circle around Harry. Half of the flowers morphed into large, silver swallowtail butterflies while the second half became two foot tall wood nymphs that danced sinuously around Harry while the butterflies morphed into miniature winged horses.

The flying horses then became phoenixes while the nymphs became satyrs that played on silent pan flutes as they danced on their cloven feet. The creatures then merged into a single being a second time and a spell from Harry turned the silver figure into a life-like copy of Harry's mother and he danced with her around the edge of his stage for several minutes before she morphed into an image of Hermione as Harry remembered her from the Yule Ball. Another few minutes and Harry was dancing with Cathy's twin before he returned to the center and let go of the clone as Cathy morphed into his father who in turn morphed into a magnificent stag.

The stag danced on his hooves before he transformed into a large black dog that pranced about playfully before turning into a younger, happier version of Harry's godfather. Harry then changed Sirius into Remus and Remus into Moony before turning Moony into Wolfstar. He wasn't quite certain what made him do the next transformation but Pettigrew was suddenly standing in the room before he shrank down into Wormtail and a rather sadistic grin momentarily flashed across Harry's face for an instant when a blasting spell blew the silver rat into fifty-four pieces that once more became cards.

The cards then began flying around the room in a long train, spiraling ever closer to where Harry stood at the center of the room before they melted together once more and he transfigured them into a larger than life copy of Beauty. Harry then danced with the giant python, incorporating the acrobatics that the Maganacs had taught him and a few of the katas that Wufei had shown him; his body effortlessly bending and weaving in and around that of the snake's body. After a few more minutes, the silver python wrapped itself around Harry and slowly reverted into a long train of cards that slid up and around his body until all fifty-four of them were sitting in his left hand once more.

The cards vanished into his shirt just seconds later as Harry gave a short bow before he dropped all of the spells he placed on the Great Hall and tucked his wand back into his glove.

A small smile flittered across his face when the applause rang out but it soon vanished as he slowly made his way to his shirt and covered his wings once more before taking a seat beside Wolfstar as Anubis and Seth slipped from their temporary perch on Trowa and slipped back into Harry's shirt all the while complaining of chilly old castles. Someone struck up a merry tune at that point and as a handful of the others danced with the few ladies present and Harry watched silently from the shadows as he rested, his hour long presentation having drained him nearly as much as a five hour battle in Wolfstar would have.

He was half dozing when Cathy dragged him out for a real dance, claiming that watching him dance with a carbon copy of her didn't count and Harry earned a swat when he cheekily corrected her; it had been a silver copy not a carbon copy. Harry soon found himself dancing with Hilde and then Patricia; both teens asking him dozens of questions about the spells he used (only five in total for the manipulation of the cards; a levitation spell to make them float, an animation spell to give them life, and a trio of transfiguration spells being used repeatedly).

Harry faltered and fumbled when his next partner turned out to be Dorothy and he found himself blushing and paling in turns as he kept thinking about the kiss they shared, their rather violent if short fight, and everything he'd talked about with his brothers afterwards.

He only grew more flustered when it became apparent that she wasn't going to let him go after the first dance and he nearly turned to glare at those playing the latest song when he noted that it was a much slower tune than the previous songs. He grew tense when he noted that the two of them were virtually off dancing by themselves as every one else had slowly migrated to the other side of the hall to give them a little privacy. He proceeded to trip over his feet when Dorothy addressed him right after that, her voice pitched low to keep her words from traveling.

"I… Hilde and Cathy told me why you reacted the way you did a couple of weeks ago. They didn't give me any details or anything… they just gave me a brief explanation. I wanted to apologize for behaving the way I did and to let you know that if I had known before about… well I wouldn't have startled you the way I did. And I probably wouldn't have… wouldn't have kissed you the way I did."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, I overreacted," Harry replied as he stopped dancing, his feet far too clumsy and heavy at the moment. "If I'd known what you were going to do I would have stopped you so you wouldn't have had to regret the kiss and I should have known better than to kiss a pretty girl."

Dorothy blushed at the compliment (the first Harry had ever given her in her hearing) before she softly state, "I don't regret stealing my first kiss from you."

"You should," Harry countered as he stepped back to put some distance between them (still uncomfortable with the physical contact; especially now that they'd stopped dancing). "I'm broken and the only thing I could possibly offer is pain and misery; no woman deserves that. You've given me a patronus worthy memory for my first kiss and if they were still alive I could have named at least fifty witches who would have gladly skinned you alive for stealing what I refused to give them. That is neither here nor there though and nothing more will come of that kiss because I won't allow you to be hurt because of me. I think it best you return to the Sanc Kingdom now that things are starting to settle down and the war is grinding to a halt."

"How dare you!" Dorothy hissed indignantly. "What gives you the right to decide what I can and can't feel? I'll tell you what gives you the right; _nothing_! I am perfectly capable of making up my own mind, thank you very much, and I'll thank you to not tell me what you and will not allow me to do as if you own me! And for the record you also have no right to tell me when or where I will be going because in case you forgot; I signed your stupid contract and I made a commitment to do a job and I will not allow you to make me break my word just because you are insecure and frightened."

Dorothy was practically yelling by the time she finished and you could hear the ice on the windows outside cracking as it melted and refroze due to the heat escaping through the glass from inside of the hall in the silence that fell after she finished. Harry eeped as Dorothy closed the distance between them a heartbeat later and grabbed hold of his shirt as she leaned down while pulling him closer so they were practically nose to nose.

"I also didn't appreciate you stringing the words 'first kiss' and 'fifty witches' together in the name sentence. If you were attempting to flatter or compliment me you failed miserably. If you thought to make me jealous you'd best not think to try it again, Mr. Bard, because I'll gladly give you another shiner to go with that one I gave you two weeks ago! Understand?"

"Perfectly," Harry croaked out which earned him several snickers from the men in the room that were currently married or that had been married at some time and his brothers as they could appreciate Dorothy's handling of Harry's tendency to wallow in self-pity.

"Good and you best not forget it!"

Dorothy then leaned down further and stole her second kiss from Harry. There was only a split second where Harry tried to break the kiss but a growl from Dorothy had him ceasing to resist with a soft sigh as the brief thought that he'd somehow managed to attract the attention of a girl just as stubborn as he was passed through his mind. The thought was gone a moment later as the euphoria he'd experienced from his first kiss returned with a vengeance in his second kiss and his passive acceptance of the kiss changed to active participation. The kiss ended a heartbeat later (as if him reciprocating was all she was waiting for) and Dorothy stormed off leaving a rattled and confused Harry in her wake as she grabbed Hilde's hand and the two teens disappeared off to who knows where with Patricia following after them a heartbeat later.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; luck and ladies don't mix and I'm beginning to think common sense doesn't mix well with them either," Harry declared only to yelp when Cathy flicked his ear after hearing his comment as she walked up to see if he was alright. That of course earned him yet another round of laughter from the other guys and he soon slunk off to sulk in his office while he prepared the next meal for the phoenix twins since it was almost time to feed them.

"We can't even leave ya alone for five minutes without ya gettin' inta trouble, can we?" Duo asked rhetorically as he followed Harry into the former antechamber.

"Ya shoulda remembered that before ya left me ta da wolves," Harry shot back as he mimicked Duo's accent and tone perfectly.

"Well… ya know what they say right? Sink or…"

"Shave?" Harry interrupted with a mock growl from where he was mashing a plum with a vengeance before adding a few almonds to the mush and pounding them into paste.

"No… I do believe da word ya are lookin' for is swim," Duo insisted quickly.

"If you insist," Harry countered as he pulled out his wand and soaked Duo from head to foot with ice water that left the long haired teen spluttering indignantly. Harry then conjured a large towel and dropped it on Duo's head, since he didn't want to get his brother sick.

"Okay… I shoulda seen that one comin' a mile away."

"Should have but we both know you never look before you leap."

"Ha, ha… how about dryin' me out and warmin' me up before I catch pneumonia?"

Harry flicked his wand twice in Duo's direction, casting the requested spells soundlessly. He then went back to his systematic pulverization of nature's bounty (adding in a few slices of apple and some hazelnuts). As he worked the fruit and nuts into a thick paste, Harry's thoughts skittered all over the place like a water-skater dancing across the surface of a stagnant pond.

"Why are girls so confusing, Duo?"

"Why are ya askin' me?"

"Well… you're here and you and Hilde have a thing going so I thought maybe you'd know."

"Me… Hilde…? What are ya talkin' about, kiddo?"

"I never realized you were just as clueless as Heero when it comes to girls; maybe I should ask Abdul."

"What was that about me being clueless about girls?" Heero inquired as he pushed Duo out of his way and stepped into the office, taking note of Harry's repeated killing of what ever he was mixing.

"Well you are," Harry affirmed with a sharp nod. "Relena's been mooning after you for almost two years and you never even noticed until I started teasing you about it and even then we both know you think she's cute but you've not even told her you think she's cute."

"Uh-huh, and you don't think it has anything to do with the fact that she's a princess of an entire kingdom and a pacifist while I'm nothing but a simple soldier?"

"I know that… and you know that… but why the hell doesn't she know that?" Harry demanded as he added three fat raspberries to the paste he'd made in addition to an ounce of white grape juice.

"You're not actually talking about Relena are you?"

Harry's response was to shoot a quick glare at both of his brothers as he murdered the raspberries mercilessly before he let his shoulders slump as he simply swirled the now fruity porridge before dropping the pestle he'd used to mash the berries and nuts to the side of the bowl. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair (knocking his glass off to one side) as he huffed in pure frustration.

The sound of a hungry chirp had him fixing his glasses, grabbing a wide mouthed eye dropper, and picking up the food he'd made for the two phoenixes. Setting the bowl and eye dropper down beside the nest, Harry freed his wings (the two phoenixes now refusing to eat if they didn't see them after they'd seen them two weeks earlier – Harry thought it had to do with the heat the wings tended to generate which was distinct phoenix-like trait). Picking the dropper back up, Harry began offering each phoenix an ounce of the sweet gruel in alternating turns, their little voices rising and falling whenever their mouths weren't occupied.

"I thought you were going to talk to Miss Catalonia?" Heero asked after a few minutes.

"I did… you saw how well that turned out."

"Did ya actually talk ta her or did ya simply tell her what she could or couldn't do? Cause from what I heard of her reply it sounded like ya weren't gonna give her a choice and ya were practically orderin' her ta leave," Duo pointed out.

"Do you remember what you said right after we interrogated Miss Catalonia? When we were trying to decide what to do with her and you suggested we give her the choice because she was an intelligent girl and wouldn't think us for trying to order her about?"

"The two of you don't have to keep rubbing it in how badly I blundered out there. I had at least hoped to have a few days to gather the courage to ask her if we could talk and I suddenly found her in my arms and she wasn't letting go. I was nervous and floundering and she started right in by apologizing and let me know that Cathy and Hilde had told her that… well I don't know exactly what they told her but I'm pretty certain I can guess the topic because of the way the conversation went. She mentioned the kiss, I said I should have stopped her, she said she didn't regret it, I told her she should and went on to explain that I'm broken and have nothing to offer any woman, and then I told her she needed to leave. And you heard the result of that…"

"You issued her a challenge, young mage," Obduro stated as he ducked into the room and gently pushed the two taller teens out of the way of his much larger body. "Venus only appears to be the most delicate of the planets but she is a fiery and fierce warrior when her wraith is stirred. She will also face a challenge head on."

"Great… just what I need."

"Indeed it is," Obduro agreed, the centaur ignoring Harry's sarcasm entirely. "A foal can not survive on the teachings of a sire alone; foals need love and nurturing from their dam as well. You will be the sire of the entire magical world and it is your duty to claim a mate for you and your children. The young palomino filly is strong, intelligent, and more than a match for that temper of yours; she would be an ideal deal mate for you. She could give you many strong sons and daughters through the years and keep you on your toes."

Harry turned to gape at Obduro in horror as he registered that the old centaur had just basically ordered him to find a wife and that Dorothy had met with his approval. He shook his head in denial and returned his attention back to the still hungry chicks as Spera, the little female, nipped him on the hand for his inattention. He shook his head several more times as he listened to his two brothers smothering what sounded suspiciously like laughter. After a few minutes, Harry finally found his voice.

"I have nothing to offer any woman."

"What makes you so certain," Heero asked almost before Harry had even finished speaking. Harry opened his mouth to reply but Heero held up his hand to stop him as he continued, "Let's look at this logically; shall we? You own an entire valley and have a castle; so you can provide shelter and a home. You have money, so you could easily support a rather large family in addition to funding the magical creature reserve and the ongoing repopulation of the various species. You have the knowledge and skills to defend your home so you have the ability to protect a family."

"With all of the work that needs to be done to reestablish the magical world I doubt any one could find the time to grow bored around here. And we already know there is nothing medically wrong with you so you could conceivably father any children your hypothetical wife wished to bring into this world. So what exactly is it that you can't offer a woman? I mean, really? Because I just covered the basics as far as I know and I didn't even mention that you are in effect the king of a small kingdom."

"I wasn't speaking materialistically, Heero, and you damn well know it. I refuse to bind some woman into a loveless marriage of convenience."

"Are ya afraid that ya will never be loved or that ya can't bring yourself ta love a woman?" Duo countered.

Harry didn't answer the question as he slowly tucked the now sleeping phoenixes back beneath their bed of ashes, making certain to cover every bit of red down so they wouldn't get a chill. The sound of hooves ringing on stone filled the room before Harry felt a large hand fall on his shoulder and he looked up to meet the centaur's warm and concerned honey colored gaze.

"Every stallion needs the love of a mare just as much as every foal needs a sire and a dam; the long winters are cold and lonely without a pair of arms and the beat of another heart pressed close to yours. As one forced to walk most of my life alone I can tell you that a solitary life is hard and difficult and above all else it is empty because duty will not erase the loneliness that eats at your soul each night you fall asleep as alone as you were when you woke up that morning."

"Why didn't you say anything about how you're feeling right now when we were discussing your past and your insecurities?" Heero asked curiously. "I mean, we talked about everything else, why not this as well?"

"I honestly thought there wouldn't be an issue because I didn't think she'd want anything to do with me after what happened so I thought it was unnecessary," Harry admitted as he made no protest to Obduro offering him a measure of comfort as if Harry was one of his foals; the centaur running his hand through Harry's hair and down his back (a centaur's equivalent of a hug).

"Ya didn't think she'd want anything ta do with ya… does that mean ya want something ta do with her?"

"No. I don't know. She's the granddaughter of the man who wanted to see me strapped to a lab table and under the knife of a scientist."

"What does that have to do with how you feel about her? You don't plan on dating her grandfather do you? It's really simple; do you like her? Do you find her pretty? Is she easy to talk to, when you're not tripping over yourself and your words? Or does she bore you? Do you enjoy her company when she's in the room with you? Did you enjoy her kisses?"

"Heero…"

"I don't expect you to give me the answers to those questions and I'm really not the one who needs to hear the answers anyway; you are. And you need to be honest with yourself about the answers to them because you'll only end up hurting yourself in the long run if you aren't."

Harry watched as both of his brothers filed out of the room and left him alone with the aging centaur and the two sleeping phoenixes. He just felt so confused and more than a little frustrated because it seemed like he still didn't have any choice in how he lived his life; even if he knew that wasn't exactly true. Sighing, Harry leaned sideways into Obduro, resting one shoulder against the centaur's wide horse chest, and closed his eyes as the centaur continued to pet him from his head to the middle of his back. He eventually fell asleep leaning against the centaur, much as a young centaur foal might when in the same position.

All five of his brothers ended up sticking around for the rest of March since there wasn't really much else for them to do (except for Quatre but he could work from Scotland as easily as he could from Saudi Arabia). Wufei and Quatre took over working the bugs out of the plant tracking system and began entering data into the system, Duo took to helping Dorothy, Patricia, and Hilde with the creature database, and Trowa and Heero helped Harry to clean out Gryffindor Tower as Harry had decided to claim the entire tower for his own; having felt at home there for nearly four years (when he ignored all of the negative memories he'd collected during those same four years).

The common room became a cozy sitting room that doubled as a library and a study as Harry filled the room with book shelves, a desk, a pair of coffee tables, an antique grandfather clock, a couple of comfortable couches and armchairs (charmed to be dark red), and a few other tasteful rugs and decorations that he'd pulled from his storage trunk and his trunk of valuables (some of them Potter or Black heirlooms Sirius had thoughtfully tucked away for him and the rest spare furniture that his godfather had had a pair of elves collect (steal) from around the castle). The large fireplace was cleaned up and repaired and the portrait of the Fat Lady moved into a place of honor above the mantle as there was no need for her to guard the entrance any longer (Harry having replaced the former tunnel with a proper door).

Once Harry figured out how to connect the other three frames he'd made for her to her painting she'd be able to freely travel between the command trunk, the entrance hall, and the headmaster's office where her other portraits now sat. She could at least still visit the occupants of the portraits hung throughout the castle so she at least wouldn't be lonely for the moment (she just couldn't travel outside of the castle or use the newly made portraits yet).

Additionally, the painting of the forest with the unicorn was hung in the former common room on the wall above the desk, Sir Cadogan and the portrait of the former Weasley twins were both placed on either side of the main entrance, a painting of a medieval castle (that the title claimed was the original Hogwarts Castle as built by the founders) was hung on the first landing above the main staircase (where the stairs split off leading up to the boys and girls dorms) between the two windows, and two more landscape paintings (one of the Scottish coastline and another of a moonlit meadow; both of them with at least one magical creature in the background) were hung to either side of the unicorn's painting.

The head boy's room, which sat directly below the boys' dorms on the ground floor, became Harry's bedroom after he cleaned it up and repaired the bathroom. On the opposite side of the common room, what had once been the head girl's room, in turn became Harry's private workshop and the bathroom that had been attached to the former bedroom became a small lab and wash room for when Harry needed to draw blood for the wards or brew a small potion for one of his many projects. Harry then ended up turning the large storage room between his new bedroom and the entrance (directly opposite of the fireplace and where all of the extra beds, pillows, linens, and other furniture for the dorm rooms had been stored) into a kennel slash garage for Wolfstar as the sentient suit still insisted on following him everywhere.

Harry was at a loss as to what to do with the fourteen dorm rooms (seven each for the boys and girls) when Heero suggested turning one of the lower floors into a nursery. Harry cringed at the reminder but quickly saw the merit in the suggestion because he was going to need a place for the eight little wizards and witches (exactly four of each) to sleep once they were 'born'. He then set about turning the first floor boys' dorm into a nursery and the attached bathroom into a bathing room slash linen closet.

Not knowing what babies would need (he had no experience with babies or small children after all), he asked Cathy for her input and soon his private tower was invaded by four teenage girls as they discussed furniture, decorations, and accessories (all of which was soon purchased on-line and picked up by Takoda a few days later). When they were finished roughly one week later, the room had been painted in shades of red and gold (Harry refused to part with the Gryffindor theme despite their efforts to impose a pink and blue scheme) and decorated with baby animals (both magical and mundane).

Lined up against the walls on either side as you entered the room, were four baby cots; the ones to the left for the boys and the ones for the girls to the right. Interspersed between the cots on both sides of the room were three dressers that would eventually be filled with an assortment of baby clothes. To either side of both doors stood a pair of wardrobes; the two near the bathroom meant to hold baby blankets, baby toys, and stuffed animals and the two near the bedroom door intended to hold shoes, jackets, jumpers, hats, gloves, and scarves.

Down the center of the room, with plenty of space to walk around them, were four changing tables that would need to be filled with diapers, wipes, baby powder, and a dozen other little things that babies needed. On either end of the changing station stood a tall clothes basket beside a magical clothes hamper that would wash, dry, and fold any soiled diapers or clothes tossed into them (the ladies loving the concept of the magical hampers after Harry had mentioned them in passing to Cathy).

The bathroom went through an even more startling transformation as all of the sinks, toilets, and shower stalls were removed. In place of the showers, they had Harry (with the help of Heero) install a long counter-top with three long, shallow rectangular sinks that were sloped on one side; ideal for washing young infants and toddlers who could easily slip beneath the surface of the water in a regular sink or tub.

Above and behind the counters, was a series of recessed shelves and cubbies that currently only held a handful of soft washcloths and fluffy towels (spread out so there was some above each sink) but would eventually also hold baby shampoo, baby soap, baby sponges, baby hair brushes and combs, baby tooth brushes, and an assortment of baby friendly bath toys. Below the shelves was a long mirror that ran the length of the counter and would allow anyone standing at the sinks to keep track of anything going on behind them without needing to turn around and take their complete attention off of the babe they were washing.

One end of the bathroom was blocked off and a more traditional bathroom installed with a single sink, toilet, and shower for any adult in need of a quick shower or a restroom break but not wanting to tromp all the way downstairs and leave the babies all alone for quite that long. Opposite of the baby baths, there was a series of recessed linen closets that would hold extra towels, extra bathing supplies, sheets, pillow cases, and more blankets.

Between the door and the first cabinet, was an extensive first aide kit with both magical and mundane necessities for treating any type of potential injury or common illness. Finally, there was another pair of large mirrors hung on the two shorter walls of the rectangular room with the one on the wall leading into the private bathroom slightly smaller to account for the door. The colors chosen for the bathroom were white and gold with red flowers for accents.

The four ladies didn't stop there either as they turned the second floor boys' dorm and bathroom into a near exact replica of the nursery below; except toddler beds were exchanged for the cots, the changing tables were switched out for a large communal playpen, and small toddler size benches slash toy chests were placed at the foot of each bed so that the children could sit down to put on their shoes or have a place to keep their personal toys. They also added a pair of low book shelves and two extra wardrobes to hold books and communal toys respectfully.

The bathroom was set up similarly with the baby sink baths replaced for slightly longer and much deeper sinks (without the sloped side) that would place the water level inside the bath just a few inches above the belly button and the addition of a place for training toilets to be set up when it come time to potty train the children. The colors used in both bedroom and bathroom were identical to those used in the nursery and nursery bathroom with an assortment of different animals and designs to distinguish the two rooms from one another.

The third and fourth floor dorms saw the girls and boys being moved into separate rooms for the first time, with the boys being given the higher floor (to burn off their excess energy according to Cathy). Each room had eight twin sized beds, with eight dressers, eight wardrobes, eight bookshelves, eight toy chests, eight small desks, and a single magical hamper placed right beside the bathroom door.

Inside of the bathroom, the counter-top bathtubs were exchanged for two normal sized tubs in each bathroom and two shower stalls, the elimination of the private bathroom, and four bathroom stalls (with toilets) installed. The color theme also changed for the first time (despite Harry's protests) as the boys were given a nice medium blue and gold with a wolf theme while the girls room was done in purple and gold with flowers and butterflies; both themes and colors continuing on into the bathrooms.

The fifth and sixth floors were left untouched for the moment (since it would be years before any children would have need of the rooms up there) and the seventh floor was turned into a library/study geared towards children aged ten or older. The attic sitting above the new study was cleaned up and set aside for storage. When the three ladies then turned their attention to the former girls' dorms, Harry put his foot down and told them he appreciated their help but they'd done enough.

They acquiesced but made him move his workshop/lab up into the first floor girls' dorm so that the former Head Girl's room could be turned into an appropriate playroom and bathroom for the children. He complained but did as told while the three ladies repainted the room with a jungle theme (Harry would add moving animals to it later) and arranged the various furniture.

Harry then set about turning the second, third, and fourth floor dorm rooms on the girls' side into snake habitats (after hearing Seth and Anubis complain for the thousandth time about the cold). He set them up similarly to the rooms he'd created at the Winner Estate; the bottom floor being a combination swamp and jungle, the middle room covering the forests and grasslands, and the top floor being fairly arid and dry for the desert dwelling snakes. He then connected all three rooms with a cast iron, spiral staircase that would be fairly easy for any of the snakes to climb up and down.

Next, he completely sealed off and covered the doors to the second and third floors (barring small cat flaps that the snakes could use to come and go) which left only one main entrance large enough for a person to walk through up on the fourth floor to make it easier to keep wandering children away from the snakes. Once he finished with that, he released the majority of rodents he'd been raising in his supply trunk into their natural environments so that they could establish themselves before he brought the rest of the snakes up in the summer. He also made a note to purchase or capture other several species of rodents, small birds, and lizards to account for the different dietary preferences of the various species of snakes he'd collected.

Of the last three floors on that side of the tower, Harry only did anything to the seventh floor and the attic space above it; removing the floor/ceiling separating the attic from the top floor and turning the combined room into an aerie for the two phoenixes. The attic windows were enlarged to let in more light and charmed to repel wild birds, inclement weather, and still allow the two phoenixes to enter and exit once they were old enough to fly. The rest of the room was turned into a rather tasteful forest clearing with a ring of trees growing flush against the walls, an assortment of thorn-less climbing roses and ivy coaxed into growing up the walls and over the tree trunks, and the floor covered with a layer of soft loam and seeded with wild grasses and flowers.

Immediately to the left of the door, a rune powered waterfall flowed down from ceiling to floor into a raised stone pond that was three feet deep, four feet long, two feet wide, and curved around to the left (following the contour of the wall). Using magic, Harry wove the branches of the trees into tasteful nests and perches that looked fairly natural once they were covered with vines. The rest of the salvaged gold bowls (which Harry thought were far too opulent to use as common every day dishes) were settled into the various nests in the hopes that additional phoenixes would one day join Fawkes's two children.

To either side of the waterfall, a series of scattered stone ledges were affixed to the wall so that the birds could perch on them. Sitting just a few feet in front of the pond was the statue of a stag he had found in his trunk that he thought looked exactly like his patronus (and therefore like Prongs). He affixed a large golden platter to the stag's back as a feeding tray where he could place fruits and nuts for the phoenix to pick from once they no longer needed to be hand fed.

In the very center of the room, Harry set a large shallow silver cauldron in which he conjured some bluebell flames in honor of Hermione (which would eventually be replaced with Gubraithian flames when Harry learned how to cast the spell). Finally, he put in a stepping stone path that encircled the room and led up the cauldron in the middle to prevent visitors to the aerie from trampling the flowers once they bloomed.

During that time, even when she was helping in the nursery and other bedrooms, Harry studiously avoided Dorothy and took extra care that they were never left alone. He would watch her occasionally and more than once caught her watching him in return but he was still too confused about his feelings regarding the spirited blonde to make any overtures. It didn't help that he had virtually no experience with girls in general other than his friendship with Hermione and the sisterly mothering that Cathy still sometimes lavished on him. The only positive thing he noted was that she had not taken to exhibiting any fan-girl type behavior; though, if she had it might have been far easier for him to dismiss her.

He had answered the questions that Heero had given to him but he wasn't certain what they meant in the long run and he couldn't quite bring himself to ask anyone because he wasn't quite certain he wanted to know. So he continued to dance about his feelings and avoid the issue entirely by keeping his mind occupied with other things.

At the end of March, Quatre, Trowa, and most of the Maganac Corps bid Harry goodbye as they headed back to the Winner Estate. Heero and Duo left a couple of days later, heading to the Sanc Kingdom to consult with Zechs about the increased activity of the White Fang group. The rest of the Maganacs stayed behind as winter finally began to loosen its grip on the countryside in order to start construction on the greenhouses. Wufei stayed as well, continuing to input the magical plant data into the computer as well as help Harry peruse the applications that were slowly starting to filter into the castle as a result of the job advertisements Quatre had posted for Harry.

It was important to screen applicants carefully because of how vulnerable the magical world was at the moment and any negative attention would only bring disaster. Still, they needed more hands to help share the load because the work was only going to multiply (and quickly) once the reserve truly got off the ground and so they had to trust themselves to find trustworthy people to join them. After a week's deliberation, Harry selected eighteen applicants that he thought would do well (Wufei tacitly endorsing his selections) and sent all eighteen an informational e-mail packet that would get them to the Winner Estate for an interview conference (which Quatre had already agreed to help him conduct).

Those that passed the interview would then be given a contract to sign (similar to the one Dorothy signed but with fewer strings attached) before being flown up for a tour at which point they would either be offered a formal employment contract (which was slightly more rigid than the one Dorothy signed) or have their memories slightly altered before being sent on their merry way. (Harry had worked extensively with several of the headmaster portraits in order to learn the spell safely because it was essential at this point; even if he disliked the very idea of stealing memories from people after everything he'd been through.)

There were currently four basic positions that Harry was attempting to fill; medical staff (both human and veterinary), animal handlers, farmers, and construction workers (or just basic handymen). He also hoped to pick up a couple of researchers that could help finish the magical databases for the creatures, beings, and plants. A trip to the clinic (to conduct the weekly inspections he'd stopped doing back in December) where he was given an update on the fetuses that were just a few months away from birth reminded him that he was going to need nannies, caretakers, and teachers to help with the children. It was at that moment that he wished there were still living house elves as he fondly remembered Dobby.

He knew that house elves were unusually devoted creatures as their method of siphoning excess magic directly from a witch or wizard made them highly dependent upon humans. Over the course of several hundred years, the symbiotic-parasitic relationship between humans and house elves (once called brownies) developed into the servant-master bond that was necessary for the elves' survival. While it sounded like slavery when viewed without the full knowledge of all aspects of the bond (S.P.E.W. and Hermione's firm stance against house elf ownership the result of too little information), it actually wasn't since the elves were getting the magic they needed (with permission through the bond) directly from the family they bonded with or in some cases the magical buildings they bound themselves to.

Hogwarts, in her current condition, couldn't support any elves but Harry could if he bonded with them directly and they in turn would be a big help in managing the reservation as they would absolutely thrive on the challenge of maintaining the castle and the animals facilities (barring the clinic).

Since he hadn't really learned all that much about wizarding culture and tradition and had no idea what owners might have done to aged elves that passed away in their care, Harry went to the experts for a possible solution. He asked the former headmasters if any of them knew where he could find the remains of the house elves. He got an unexpected answer back when Phineas Black (most hated Hogwarts Headmaster) said that the Black Family home in London was still standing and that they had preserved heads from at least eight unrelated house elves decorating one of the walls. The problem was that only a member of the Black family could enter the house.

Harry immediately wondered if his godfather had been a member of the Black Family and when Phineas asked for his name Harry learned that Sirius had been the portrait's great-great grandson. That soon led to the revelation that through Sirius, Harry was the current Head of the Black family because Sirius had adopted Harry at some point before he'd sent him forward through time (which was why the man had given Harry the Black Family Ring). He had actually been related to his godfather by blood prior to the adoption through one of the branch houses because the Potters had married into the family (they had been something like third or fourth cousins twice removed or something like that – the exact relationship convoluted and not strong enough to warrant the headship of the house without the adoption; one of many reasons Sirius had adopted him the way he did).

On the twelfth of April, with Takoda as his copilot, Harry ventured into the heart of New London under stealth mode in Wolfstar and soon found the former town house that Sirius had left to him. Originally, the house had stood in the center of a rather well to do neighborhood that had declined rapidly during the last half of the nineteen hundreds. After the passing of more than four hundred and fifty years, the house now sat alone in the middle of a huge park (part of the reclamation efforts of the late fifties of the twenty-third century when the government sought to 'beautify' its capital city to reduce the level of pollution); hidden by wards far more powerful than those on the twins' prank shop (thereby protecting and hiding the house from the muggles) and close enough to another large nexus of ley lines (this one only about nine lines strong and directly beneath the foundation of Gringotts) that they hadn't yet begun to degrade.

Inside, Harry found much more than he bargained for as he stumbled across not only the expected severed elf heads but the skeletons of seventeen witches and wizards, three complete elf skeletons, and the magically preserved body of a snowy owl that Harry immediately recognized as Hedwig. Harry immediately knew that his godfather accounted for at least one of those skeletons and figured that Remus probably counted for another. He wasn't certain who the other fifteen belonged to but a letter addressed to him beside one of the skeletons he found in the drawing room provided the information and brought tears to Harry's eyes as he realized that all seventeen of these people had been or could have been close friends or damn near family.

_Harry,_

_If you are reading this, then you've finally found us but we didn't make it. We tried  
to find you but I guess you hid yourself far better than we ever expected or the  
papers got something right and Dumbledore or Voldemort really did kill you. We…  
no I want you to know that I never blamed you for leaving but there were a number  
of people you left behind that have missed you terribly; me included. _

_Everyone trapped in this house was loyal to you to the end but I'm afraid that the  
muggles have us completely trapped and we're as good as done for; as you've  
probably noticed. Not even the house elves, your old friend Dobby, the old Crouch  
elf Winky, and the foul Kreacher, can leave the house for food anymore after the  
muggles figured out how to block magical transportation throughout all of London  
and we had no where to go. _

_I pray to the gods that you at least escaped the purges but if not I guess I'll see you  
soon anyway as right now we're slowly starving to death after our supplies ran out  
two months ago after getting us through nearly ten years after the fall of Hogwarts  
due to a traitorous wizard and several dissatisfied squibs. _

_If you are still alive by some miracle, please take us home to the fields of Hogwarts  
(unless the muggles still have control of the castle) and keep our names in your heart  
and whatever you do, don't let them catch you! The chance, no matter how small,  
that you are still alive is the only thing that gives me hope for the future; that we  
might one day get past all this and thrive again. _

_Everything we own now belongs to you, it's all here in the house, and when you are  
finally ready to meet us on the other side, we'll be waiting for you with open arms  
and love in our hearts._

_Yours truly,_

_Sirius Black, Remus and Dora Lupin, Minerva McGonagall, Bill and Fleur Potter,  
Charlie Potter, Percy and Penelope Potter, Viktor and Hermione Krum, Neville and  
Hannah Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, Gabrielle Delacour, and little  
Teddy Lupin_

_P.S. Are you still behaving?_

It only took Harry a moment to realize that his godfather (he'd recognized Sirius's handwriting) had hidden something using the old Marauder's Map password because it made no sense for that post script to be used otherwise and after he regained control of his emotions he pressed his wand to the parchment and gave the password and received another, shorter letter from his godfather.

_Pup,_

_I know what really happened to you as I left myself a letter and a purging potion to  
free my memories so I would be able to protect those that I knew you would hold  
dear and so I'd know when to go back to save you. I'm sorry I failed you so badly._

_I'm also sorry that I lied to you but I feared you'd try to come back if you'd known  
that I'd sent you forty-five years into the future and not another world. You were  
bound to find out someday though and that is why I left you this letter._

_There is a journal I kept, in addition to a box of memory vials, hidden beneath my  
bed on the second floor (the only room in this house decorated in Gryffindor red).  
They will help explain how we all ended up here as well as everything that  
happened after I sent you on your way. _

_There are several graves out back (two marking the smallest two children who were  
the first to perish once we ran out of food and the elves could not steal more) and two  
whom I collected because I knew you would want to see them someday. Please take  
them with you when you take us to Hogwarts. _

_And please take Buckbeak's remains with you as well (he's in the room at the end of  
the hall on the third floor) because the old chap deserves a proper resting place after  
everything he's been through._

_You are the son I never had, Harry, and I know you will make me proud no matter  
how you decided to live out your life._

_Padfoot_

After he finished reading the hidden letter, Harry stared at the line stating that his godfather had intended to only send him forty-five years into the future. Something had gone drastically wrong though as Harry had actually ended up being sent four hundred and sixty-some years into the future. Uncertain how he should feel about that revelation, Harry shoved it to the back of his mind for the time being as he focused instead on the list of signatures at the end of the main letter; tears sliding down his face unheeded as he read their names over and over again.

"Is everything alright, Taliesin?" Takoda asked softly as he walked into the drawing room and unexpectedly found Harry crying.

"Yeah… just missing my first family," Harry replied softly as he carefully refolded the letter. "Can you please help me prepare them all for transport back to Hogwarts? My family requested that I take them home when I found them. The stuffed white owl will need to go as well (just keep her with the skeleton that was propped up beside her) as will the hippogriff skeleton from the third floor; the rest of it we can come back for another time. I'll start with the ones in here if you can take care of the ones in the library?"

"Sure thing…"

Harry started with his godfather (the skeleton was wearing a smaller version of one of the rings that Sirius had left him and he had recognized the Black crest etched on the ring and stone) and said his goodbyes as he tucked the skeleton into the crate. The next group was one of the married couples as the smaller of the two was sitting on the other's lap and they wore matching wedding bands. Harry believed it to be Remus and his wife Dora since a third form had been nestled up beside them and from the small size he believed it to be Teddy Lupin who had to be Remus's son if he read the letter right.

Those three Harry carefully placed into a single crate, as he was unwilling to separate them even for the short ride to Hogwarts. The rest of the skeletons had been scattered through the house in groups of ones and twos, matching wedding bands identifying couples if not giving him an idea of which couple they were (aside from the Lupin family) though he had recognized McGonagall due to her glasses and he suspected Hermione and Viktor were the pair that had been found in the library.

He then left Takoda to pack up the elf heads, the three elf skeletons (Harry believing that the one found beside Hedwig belonged to be Dobby while the other two were indistinguishable), and Hedwig while he entered the back yard to collect the four skeletons from the graves Sirius had told him were there. He received a second shock when he found that Sirius had found his parents and rescued their remains for him and he found himself crying again as he carefully exhumed their coffins and packed them into a single crate. He then exhumed Hermione and Viktor's son that they'd named Harry (he'd only been two years old when he died) and Neville and Hannah's daughter Alice (who'd been three); making certain to place the three headstones inside of the crates with the coffins (his parents sharing a single stone).

The last two things Harry did before he left was to retrieve the journal and box of additional memories from Sirius's bedroom along with one of Sirius's old Gryffindor scarf (the latter strictly for sentimental reasons) and pack up Buckbeak's remains. After loading up the numerous crates, Harry allowed Wolfstar to take them home while he sat lost in his thoughts holding the journal, scarf, and letter; tears once more coursing silent and unnoticed down his face. He'd known everyone had been dead for centuries for nine months now but to suddenly have undeniable proof of what had happened to them only made their deaths all that more real. And to finally be able to pay his respects to his parents (something he hadn't thought would ever be possible since he hadn't even known where they'd been buried previously) was a gift he would treasure until he drew his last breath.

They had a concerned welcoming party waiting for them when they finally did touch down (they'd only been expected to be gone around sixteen hours and they'd been gone for twenty-eight). The lost and grief-stricken expression on Harry's face only doubled their concern. In complete contrast to the pain they could clearly see on his face, Harry held himself tall and proud as he personally levitated the fifteen crates holding the twenty-one unexpected human skeletons, one elf, an owl, and a hippogriff into the clinic where he set them down with extra care (leaving the elf heads and the other two elf skeletons to be dealt with by someone else). Harry then knelt in the center of the room, surrounded by his lost family, and bowed his head as he settled in for a long vigil in order to give his family a proper goodbye.

While he mourned, Takoda brought the other elf remains into the clinic and handed them over to the staff before he filled the others in on what they had found and why he hadn't left Harry alone to give them a heads up the moment they knew they would be late (he'd been worried for the younger man's state of mind and only Harry could get him in and out of the house) and what had prevented Harry from notifying them himself. After five solid hours of kneeling on the cold hard floor without moving, Harry finally dried his eyes and climbed wearily back to his feet to find everyone watching him from where they'd been leaning against the outer walls of the room. He gave Wufei and Cathy (their concern the easiest to read) a tight smile to let them know he would be alright before he addressed Dr. Watanabe as he stepped up to one of the crates.

"Dr. Watanabe, did Takoda give you the preserved elf skulls and the two complete skeletons? Good. I have no preferences as to how you mix and match their genes to produce the clones and I trust your judgment as to knowing which combinations will produce the widest selection of genetic mutations for the entire species. There are a total of ten unrelated samples in what you have already been given in addition to an eleventh one here in this room."

"The reason I separated one of the elves out was because I wish for you to make an exact clone of this elf before you mix his genes with the others. In the crate with him is a snowy owl that I'd also like you to clone; she is a postal owl and therefore slightly bigger and smarter than the non-magical breed of snowy owls. Please clone an entire clutch of eggs from her, at least six (three of each gender if possible); genetic variances can later be introduced by crossing them with mundane snowy owls to strengthen the breed once they are old enough since magical snowy owls were actually quite rare."

"Of the humans we unexpectedly found, there are two young children, Harry Krum and Alice Longbottom, please clone them each once and do not mix their genes with anyone else's. The family designated as the Lupins are not to be cloned until extensive testing has been done on the D.N.A. of the husband and the son as they potentially carry the curse for lycanthropy and if it can at all be avoided, I would spare reintroducing that curse to new generations."

"The two individuals named Sirius Black…" Wufei and Cathy both jumped slightly and stared at Harry with new understanding as they recognized the name of Harry's godfather. "… and Minerva McGonagall may be cloned both as they are and mixed with any of the D.N.A. that you already have on hand except for mine (for a good reason). You might also wish to hold back samples of their D.N.A. to study and compare to that of the two male Lupins as the two of them are known Animagi, meaning that they could change into a dog and a cat respectively, and might therefore help isolate the anomaly that is the werewolf curse that I know Remus Lupin was infected with at a very young age."

Harry paused for a moment as he stepped over to another crate (the one holding his parents) before he continued, "This next create contains James and Lily Potter…" This time Cathy gasped and pressed her hands to her mouth and Harry flashed her another tight smile as he knew she knew who they were. "… and I am going to ask you to clone no more than three children from them (two girls and a boy) total and under no circumstances are you to mix their genes with anyone else but each other."

"I also do not want an exact clone of either of them to ever be produced. James Potter was also an animagus, a stag, so you may study his genes more closely if you think it might help with isolating the lycanthropy problem. If you study the genes of both Potters closely you may be able to isolate the anomalies in my D.N.A. due to the changes I underwent that gave me wings, hollow bones, and who knows what else. They were, after all, my biological parents."

"Next we have another four married couples that I would like you to clone using their combined genetics rather than cloning them individually. There is Bill and Fleur Potter, no relation to James and Lily or myself as far as I know; please designate them as Delacours to differentiate them from the Potter children as that was Fleur's maiden name. You will also want to study Fleur's D.N.A. fairly closely as she was at least one quarter veela so there will be some anomalies in her D.N.A. and there is a chance that any male child you attempt to clone between them will not thrive. If that happens, please clone two male children from Bill alone so that his bloodline can survive and leave their combined children as female."

"Neville and Hannah Longbottom were the parents of Alice Longbottom who I mentioned earlier, so please count her as one of the four children that you clone from their combined genetics. Next, Viktor and Hermione Krum are the parents of Harry Krum who should be included in their four children. Finally there is Percy and Penelope Potter, also no relation to myself or my parents though Percy was the younger brother of Bill; you may designate their children as Clearwaters, which was Penelope's maiden name)."

"Of those three families, I am unaware of any special traits or talents so I do not know if anything will turn up or not. The other thing I do not know is which couple is which but I suspect their wedding rings will have the family name engraved on the inside as that is the typical wizarding tradition. If not please let me know and I'll see if I can find a spell to help identify them or you could probably figure it out based upon their children's D.N.A."

"The next four crates contain Charlie Potter, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, and Gabrielle Delacour. Charlie was Bill and Percy's brother and I think he was at least six or seven years older than me. I know that Susan at least was born around the same time that I was but I am not familiar with the name Lovegood so I don't know her age. Gabrielle was at least four to six years younger than me and she is the younger sister of Fleur and also at least one quarter veela."

"Until we know which one is which, I'd like you to leave them for last and then treat them the same as Sirius and McGonagall; with Charlie's clone being given the name of Weasley (which was his birth name before he and the others took the name Potter). All couples are to be kept together once you are finished with them so that I might bury them together once you are finished with their remains."

"The final crate contains the complete skeleton of a single hippogriff and I would like you to create two clones from his remains before you mix his D.N.A. with that of the other hippogriffs; one male and one female. When you are finished with his remains, please keep him separate from the other hippogriff bones as he will be laid to rest with the rest of my family."

"How many of the beings you call house elves did you wish me to clone in total?" Dr. Watanabe inquired as he glanced down at the notes his assistant had just passed to him on the instructions that Harry had just given to him.

"Create two of Dobby, the elf in this room – one male and one female – and then twelve to start with between the others in three staggered groupings of four (two males and two females per group). I don't know the gestation period of a house elf, or brownie as they were once called, and I am not certain how long they take to mature so staggering them with two months between each grouping should allow plenty of time between them to gain a better understanding of their growth rates. Please do the Dobby twins first though and allow at least a month before you start the second group."

"Did you wish me to catalog the children created from your parents as Potters or Bards?"

"Potters please… I do not wish for their name to have died with them. Were there any other questions?"

Seeing that there were no more questions, Harry nodded and headed for the door only for Wufei to stop him before he stepped out of the room. Harry smiled at the studious teen and patted the hand restraining him reassuringly before he gently freed his arm only to find himself being enveloped in a hug by Cathy the moment he was free. He hugged her in returned and leaned into her warmth for a moment before he gently pulled away and brushed a kiss to her cheek before he went to find Obduro (the centaur having agreed to watch the phoenixes while he was gone because he was the only other one the birds would eat for due to the ancient centaur's close connection to nature).

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**AN:** _Finally managed to find the motivation to finish cleaning up this chapter after the frustration of dealing with the large number of PMs and the handful of reviews of people ordering me to change the pairing. Sorry, __**not happening**__. Not only would that mean I have to scrap close to 100,000 words but that I'd have to rewrite over twenty chapters and I am NOT doing that. I'm sorry if some readers are disappointed or angry that I chose to pair Harry with Dorothy but there are plenty of other Gundam/HP stories out there that pair him with other people, so no one is forcing you to read mine. _

_I chose Dorothy to be Harry's partner in this story because it was one pairing that I had not seen in FanFiction. I don't like copying everyone else because it gets boring reading the same basic storylines over and over again. And for those who were demanding/requesting that I pair Harry with one of the pilots… uh, sorry, the answer is no. I stated right up front that Harry will not be paired with one of the Gundams and throughout the course of the story he has repeatedly referred to them as his brothers; I thought that would have been clue enough for everyone to get the point. _

_Okay, rant over for now. _

_So, we have another moment between Harry and Dorothy, Obduro gives us a classic example of centaurian logic (that scene was the highlight of the chapter for me!), and we finally learn the fates of the rest of Harry's friends, potential friends, and family. Harry also learns that something went seriously wrong with whatever spell or gadget Sirius used to send him to the future as he'd been thrown into the future a few hundred years more than planned. More information about the gadget/spell used will come up in later chapters. _

_We also see hints of Duo/Hilde and Heero/Relena in this chapter (or at least references to them) but the story will not focus on their relationships other than a mention or two here and there IF I have them get together (not certain really since they really aren't the focus of the story). I've also played around a bit with the idea of a Quatre/Trowa pairing because of the hints I saw of it in the anime but if I do, they're relationship will be given the same amount of attention that I would give to Duo/Hilde & Heero/Relena; which is to say nothing more than a mention or two here and there IF I have them get together. _

_Anywho… I've already started cleaning up the next chapter which will have another encounter between Harry and Dorothy, a closer look at what is happening with the reserve, another foray into the extinct magical world, and White Fang finally puts their plans into action. I'm probably going to finish posting Haunted before I throw up the next chapter here though, as well as getting the first chapter of WWY2 up (long overdue on that one, I know). _

_Oh, and most importantly, I want to thank everyone who has left a review (especially those that didn't try to tell me to change my pairings). I really do appreciate hearing what my readers think even if I don't say so often enough. And while I dislike the negative reviews, they do have some worth (unless they're just flames) if they offer constructive criticism instead of just demanding that I change things to satisfy a single reviewer. Anyway, will post again soon, I hope. ~ Jenn_


	42. Deliberation and Determination

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 41: Deliberation and Determination

Harry didn't have time to wallow in his renewed grief, the scant few hours he allowed himself (when he first found his lost family and when he finally brought them home) would have to suffice until he could set aside a day to re-inter them. He'd already decided that his parents and his godfather would be buried separately from the rest of the deceased because they were heroes to the wizarding world; his parents for saving his life when he was a mere babe (and in his mind they had been the ones to defeat Voldemort that first time) and his godfather for sending him forward through time so he could one day save the magical world.

He wanted all three of them to be remembered as the heroes they were so he was going to entomb them in a memorial just outside the entrance to Hogwarts where anyone visiting the reserve (because it was no longer just a school) would be able to see them and remember them for their sacrifices. The rest of his family and friends would be interred beside each other in the graveyard with the other witches and wizards that had been pulled from the castle and their names added to the memorial that Harry was thinking of building to replace the winged boar gate pillars that had once guarded the entrance to the school grounds.

Instead, he conducted the eighteen scheduled interviews, tentatively hired twelve of those individuals, and made arrangements for them to be brought to the castle after they signed their contracts (with contract quills). He also checked on the progress of the green houses, began collecting samples of those plants he already knew he would need to grow first (the food and medicinal crops), and consulted with the Maganacs about getting an additional greenhouse built closer to the castle to set aside for a kitchen garden so they could grow some of their own produce in addition to the magical crops.

While digging through his potion supplies for seeds and bulbs, Harry stumbled across the crates holding the preserved remains of hundreds of different creatures and beings in various stages of development that used to sit in the potions lab and Snape's office (all of them meticulously labeled in Snape's familiar scrawl – the wizard having purposefully avoided unpacking those hated reminders). After narrowly avoiding the panic attack the frightfully familiar jars had sent him into the moment he saw them, Harry gathered them up and turned them over to Dr. Watanabe in the hopes that they could be used to help repopulate the magical world.

To forget about the abrupt reminder of his tormenter, Harry spent hours going over plans to renovate the first floor north and west wings (which were formerly nothing but classrooms) into quarters for those individuals (and their families) that he would potentially be welcoming to the reservation in a few days time. Right now everyone (aside from himself) was staying in a pair of communal dorms on the first floor and while it had been fine in the beginning, the castle was more than large enough to allow for everyone to have their own quarters.

Cathy, after Harry went to her for her opinion on the renovations, threw out his plans entirely and talked him into gutting and renovating Ravenclaw Tower to set up apartments for those individuals that Harry hired that did not have plans to bring their family and setting up family suites on the seventh floor between Gryffindor Tower and Ravenclaw Tower for those that would be bringing their families with them. Her reasoning was that the lower levels should be dedicated to labs, workshops, and classrooms since it would make more sense to have those types of rooms closer to the ground floor and therefore easier to access. Harry then told her she'd just officially gotten herself appointed as the reservation's Director of Renovations and told her any and all construction crews would answer to her from that point forward.

All he asked was that she run her plans by him first so he could know what to expect and if he needed to make magical adjustments prior to any work being done on them and told he'd get her a list of the rooms, corridors, and castle grounds that were not to be touched for the moment (such as the ruins of Hogsmeade and the Quidditch Pitch).

When it was finally finished, the new Ravenclaw Tower (freshly repainted in blue and bronze) sported a large common room (minus the books shelves it had had before the renovation) that was sparsely furnished with several couches, armchairs, coffee tables, and rugs. The head boy's room had been converted into a recreation room, the head girl's room turned into a modest kitchen, and the storage room off the ground floor of the tower became a library/study where all of the shelves from the common room had been transferred with several large tables, desks, and chairs scattered about the room. The intact statue of Rowena Ravenclaw that he'd found in the tower was placed into storage until he made a decision as to where her presence would have the greatest impact; in the Entrance Hall, in the Library, or in the hall outside of the Ravenclaw Tower).

The seven floors of dorm rooms (that had been of similar design to those in Gryffindor Tower with boys on the left and girls on the right) were now seven floors of apartments with a pair of communal bathrooms for each floor (men and women still being housed separately even though the enchantments that had once kept the men out of the women's rooms had not been replaced). Each floor sported sixteen apartments (eight on each side) with the attics at the very top being converted into a pair of rooftop terrace garden with a wide bridge connecting the two sections where employees could hang out on their days off.

The family suites, once completed, would consist of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, a dining room, an office or study, a sitting room, and a small entryway. The master bedrooms and the sitting rooms would both have balconies overlooking the lake and castle grounds as those rooms were situated along the outer wall. There would be other options for those families that needed more than three rooms but for the moment none of those currently working on the reservation or those that Harry was tentatively planning to hire numbered more than four (not counting his own adopted family; all of whom maintained individual rooms anyway). For those individuals that would not be making the castle their permanent home, Cathy had Harry help set up a series of guest dorms directly across from the family suits.

Halfway through the housing renovations, Harry's potential new employees arrived and he greeted them on the steps of the castle with his wings in full view to test his prospective employees since if they couldn't accept him there was a large chance they wouldn't accept the animals and he needed to know that before any of the magical creatures ended up hurt. By the end of the tour, only one person had refused to accept a position (he just couldn't accept that magic existed and wanted nothing to do with the freaky, deformed creatures – the thestrals had really freaked him out) and Harry calmly Obliviated the man before having Takoda return him to the Winner Estate.

The other eleven people gladly signed their new contracts and those with families asked when they could be allowed to bring their wives and children (or in some cases siblings and parents) to the reserve. Harry told them once their families signed the non disclosure agreement that would protect their community from persecution (with those members age twelve or under being exempt) they were more than welcome to join them at the castle.

The next round of hiring would take place a month later to allow the new employees plenty of time to establish their routines. Harry would spend about a week helping the new staff members and (the family members that followed them) settle into their new quarters and their new jobs. He explained the rules to all of them and let them know that while the castle was pretty much theirs, the grounds belonged to the creatures first and foremost though they tended to avoid the open areas around the castle. The Forbidden Forest was off limits (as it always had been) unless he was available to guide and protect them if their duties required them to venture beneath the trees but few would actually ever be required to enter the forest.

He warned them of the on-going renovations and let them know the dungeons and several of the various wings were off limits due to the structural damage that he was still trying to get repaired. To help everyone navigate the maze that was Hogwarts, Harry had all of the floors in the known safe corridors painted green, dangerous corridors were painted red, and the corridors and rooms under construction were done in yellow. He also used white lines and arrows to mark the safest route between the top floors and the ground floor. Unpainted floors (aside from those that were obviously in use such as the Great Hall, the kitchens, and the Entrance Hall) were to be avoided because the structural integrity of those rooms and corridors had not yet been determined.

Of the six employees with families, only four of them had six children between them and of those children four were in their early teens, one just turned nine, and one was a six week old infant. Harry gave permission for the teens to help out around the reserve so long as they had their parents' permission, respected the animals or the people they were helping, and followed all of the rules. Schooling for the five older children would temporarily be done via the internet until they hired some teachers (which might take until summer) much to the children's joy. And while Harry thought the enthusiasm of the older children was contagious (it was their first time in a real magical castle after all), it was the wee infant that caught his attention; something the new mother and her husband couldn't help but notice.

The man in question just happened to be one of the veterinarians that Harry had hired and he'd already been made aware of the cloning program that had been initiated, including the human portion of the program. The reason for that was because some of the magical beings fell somewhere between creature and human and would therefore require both doctors and veterinarians to work together to establish treatment options, especially for those like the centaurs and mermaids that had mixed human and animal physiology. So he was aware that there were eight children that would be born in a few months and that Harry would be their primary caregiver.

The veterinarian had also been warned by both Quatre and Wufei (when they learned the man had an infant) that Harry would either avoid him and his family like the plague or be drawn to them because of their child. That was how Harry ended up getting a crash course in baby care from the veterinarian's wife once she and her husband caught him staring at their son on more than one occasion. She taught him how to hold Ebert (her son), how to bathe him, how to change his diapers and his clothes, how to feed him, and the various reasons why a baby would cry.

The first time the woman plopped the little boy in Harry's arms he'd nearly panicked before he got caught up in the baby's curious brown eyes. He'd spent quite some time counting toes and fingers and slowly relaxed as he realized dealing with an infant wasn't much different than dealing with any other newborn (only they grew slower in most cases). After two weeks of lessons, Harry could even be found staring at the growing witches and wizards with far more interest than he had previously shown, his eyes unerringly being drawn to the one labeled Bard Jr. (quite a change from when he refused to even look at the baby that was his clone).

At the start of the second week of May, Harry once again began making short trips into the wilds surrounding the castle to collect D.N.A. samples from various magical creatures and in the rare case beings. With the phoenix twins now entering the fledgling stage of their development and the weather steadily growing warmer, Harry often took them and the two cobras with him when he went. Unlike his first trip though, he never spent more than a day or two trekking through the forest and cast the majority of the detection spells from Wolfstar's cockpit so he would be within easy reach if anyone needed him.

He also took another couple of trips into London; one to pack up the rest of his godfather's former house and one to hunt out the buried remains of the Ministry of Magic. He also noted the possible locations of St. Mungo's and the former Diagon Alley but would need more time to explore those two areas because they were both technically above ground (not counting the tunnels of Gringotts).

The trip to the former Ministry of Magic didn't really gain him as much as he'd hoped as it had been raided far more thoroughly than Hogwarts had been; either by the muggles, by Voldemort and Dumbledore, or by the fleeing employees prior to the muggles going to war against the magicals. There had been only three departments that had escaped the ransacking due to extensive warding; the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Historical Records Department, and the Department of Mysteries in the very depths of the Ministry. He collected a wealth of information and invaluable historical records from all three departments but he had hoped to find something more; not that he had known exactly what he'd been looking for when he'd gone. Though, the comprehensive list of magical businesses and homes that he had pulled from the DMLE offices would be extremely helpful in tracking down any and all magical ruins to prevent any intact magical artifacts contained in those ruins from falling into the wrong hands.

In the Department of Mysteries, he'd found a creepy broken arch that seemed to suck the sound out of the gloomy and dust filled amphitheater it sat in, a room filled with hundreds or possibly thousands of broken Time-Tuners, a room filled with strange shriveled gray lumps in a tank, an extraordinary replica of the solar system that filled an entire room (still fully functional), a room filled with what looked like millions of broken snow globes, and a locked room that when opened revealed a treasure trove of research notes, rare books, one of a kind magical devices, and what was purported to be the skeleton of Emrys Myrddin (Merlin).

Harry took the notes, the books, and the devices from that room (having taken nothing from the other rooms aside from the few files he found) but left Merlin's remains untouched after saying a brief prayer over them as he had no wish to invoke the ancient sorcerer's wraith by disturbing him after all of this time and not even he was crass enough to even _think_ of cloning _that_ particular wizard, let alone allow scientists to _experiment_ with his D.N.A..

After the Ministry raid, Harry spent the last four days of May at the castle sorting through the books and scrolls he'd taken from the Department of Mysteries. It was there, on the thirtieth, that his long avoidance of one Dorothy Catalonia finally came to an end in a strange mimicry of the day when she'd first kissed him. He'd been sitting at his desk in Gryffindor Tower trying to decipher the ancient dialect of the book in his hand (which he thought might either be Old English or possibly a bastardized mishmash of Welsh and Old English) so he knew how to categorize the book when Dorothy had entered his tower.

He'd looked up when he heard her huff and utter a complaint or possibly a curse beneath her breath before she strode up to the desk to address him, "Cathy sent me to tell you that you once again missed supper and to remind you that you have interviews scheduled to conduct tomorrow."

"Thank you… I'll grab something in a bit, I'm right in the middle of something right now and don't want to lose my place because it is confusing enough as it is without having to sort through it a second time."

"You still insist on pushing yourself?"

"Still a habit born of necessity… but not nearly as bad as it had been before," Harry quipped with a short bark of laughter as he buried his nose in the book once more.

Dorothy huffed a second time before Harry tuned her out as he once again tried to translate the sentence he'd gotten stuck on. Hands dropping down onto his shoulders made him lose his place and while he didn't jump and freak out like he had the first time she'd touched him unexpectedly, he did tense and try to lean away from her hands. She simply barked at him to sit still as she pulled him back into the chair and began kneading his neck and shoulders. After a few minutes she told him to relax when she noticed he was still extremely tense; she needed to repeat the order several more times before he actually did though. He was practically nodding off as a result of the surprisingly pleasant massage (once he got over the discomfort of being touched) when Dorothy began speaking and he snapped back into full awareness and tensed up once more the moment he processed her first sentence.

"You do realize that avoiding me isn't going to accomplish anything, right?" Dorothy asked as she worked at a particularly stubborn knot just to the left of where Harry's right wing connected to his back. "And I thought I told you to relax. As I was saying… ignoring me isn't going to make me suddenly forget our last conversation or the fact that we never did properly sit down and talk about your asinine assumption that you could order me about. Sit down; you aren't going anywhere until we're done talking."

"I already told you… I'm…"

"Broken, yes… I heard you the first time you uttered that ridiculous tripe. Tell me, do you already have a girlfriend? Or a wife I've not yet met? Or maybe just a girl you've been mooning after since before you met me?"

"No… I don't; not that I think it's any of your business."

"That's one less possible issue then," Dorothy stated as she moved her hands to the other shoulder and ignored the rest of Harry's declaration. "And I'm not dating anyone either so there is no conflict there. You've also shown no interest in other men so I am going to go out on a limb here and say that isn't the problem either. That means you are afraid of something or there is something about me you personally dislike. Oh do stop moving about, I told you I'm not letting you go any where until we're done."

"This is not a discussion I am having with you."

"Oh? And who are you going to have it with? Your brothers? The strange if somewhat nice old centaur? Last I checked, a discussion that involves a man and a woman needs to take place between the man and the woman involved if one hopes to actually resolve any problems between the two of them."

"I don't have anything to offer you or any other woman," Harry growled as he ducked down and spun around so he could glare over the back of the chair at her.

"I didn't realize we were talking marriage before we'd even dated," Dorothy shot back as she crossed her arms and unflinchingly met his gaze. "Last I checked, we hadn't even spoken about whether or not we'd felt any mutual attraction after we'd unexpectedly kissed."

"It wouldn't matter even if we did; I won't allow anything to become of it because I have nothing to offer any relationship."

"Not even friendship? Does that mean you're just pretending, or worse lying, to the others when you joke about with them or speak about how important friends and family are to you?"

"Don't put words in my mouth."

"I didn't… you are the one who said you don't have anything to bring to any relationship."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Actually, no I don't. I have no idea what you meant at all because other than saying you are broken and have nothing to offer, you've said nothing. Except to say what you won't allow. I find it curious that you have been very insistent about not getting into a relationship whenever we've talked since I first kissed you. Why would you automatically assume that I want anything but friendship to develop between us? If I was the type to gambol, then I would bet that the reason you are protesting so much is because you are afraid that a relationship is exactly what you want. I mean, you didn't even come right out and say you didn't feel that way about me when you easily could have without hurting my feelings too much."

"I told you… I'm not discussing this with you."

"Yet again you had a chance to deny that you felt anything and once again you seek to evade the real issue. Is it because of who my grandfather is?"

Harry felt like screaming out of sheer frustration over her ability to latch right onto the topics he really didn't want to discuss. Growling, he turned on his heel so he could just walk away before he lost his temper only to find Dorothy blocking his way (the younger teen having hauled the chair out of her way the moment he broke eye contact).

"I'm not going to just let you run away. I'm tired of you avoiding me and watching me from across the room when you think I'm not looking," Dorothy declared as she poked him in the chest with her finger. "I love my grandfather, despite how angry I am with him for the things he'd said during the short confrontation you had with him, because he is my grandfather but that doesn't mean that I am anything like my grandfather; as you should well remember after you dosed me with that truth drug and had me interrogated me for hours."

Dorothy paused for breath and jabbed him a second time with her finger before she continued, "And while I would like to think that my grandfather would approve of any I boy I date (especially, when there are obvious political advantages to being involved with the boy of my choice), I'm old enough now that his disapproval will not impact the decisions that I make involving my personal life. Furthermore, anything my grandfather might have done to you or your family had nothing to do with me personally and you strike me as being intelligent enough to keep that straight in your mind; so what exactly is the problem?"

"Look… I'm sorry that you are reading more into my words than was originally intended but I've never been very good at dealing with girls except when it came to running in the opposite direction from rabid fan girls that never saw me for whom I am and wanted something from me that I wasn't going to allow them to take. The ladies working with me here are a few of the exceptions because they're like sisters to me. Even then, it took time for me to grow comfortable around them because I'm not very good at opening up to new people nor am I a very trusting person; which is why I rely so heavily upon my brothers when it comes to judging other people. Now, if you will excuse me; I have work to do."

"Is it that I am seeing things that don't exist or that I am seeing things that you didn't want me to see in your words that bothers you?" Dorothy demanded as she refused to budge.

"This conversation is over."

"No, it's not; technically we never even started it because you refuse to actually talk if I don't count that little speech you just gave me. I'm not going anywhere and I'm not letting you leave until we sit down and discuss this."

"No."

"Fine; you don't want to talk, then I'll just have to find another way through that thick skull of yours," Dorothy stated as she grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him towards her unexpectedly so that they were nose to nose once again. "My uncle once told me that actions speak often louder than words anyway."

And with that she was pressing her lips to Harry's for the third time. Harry brought his hands up in an attempt to free his shirt from her grasp but she stubbornly clung to the open front of his button up shirt. So, with his hands still over top of hers fruitlessly trying to free himself, he leaned backwards to escape the kiss only for Dorothy to follow him courtesy of the hold she had on his clothes until he was leaning precariously over the desk.

Only a few seconds had passed but already Harry could feel the butterflies stirring in his stomach as he struggled not to respond. In his desperate attempt to free his shirt he forgot to keep breathing until his lungs started to burn due to a distinct lack of air. It was therefore, only natural for Harry to gasp in search of a quick breath of air to satisfy his need for oxygen. The gasp honestly had _nothing_ to do with the feelings she was invoking in him – really it didn't.

Dorothy took advantage of the gasp as she shifted slightly so that their lips fit together perfectly and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and brushed against his at the same time. Harry gasped a second time and this time, not even he could deny that it as because of the sharp spike of heat he'd felt rush through him at that tentative touch. Knowing that he was losing his battle against himself, Harry gave a soft whine of resignation before he simply gave up and gave in only for the kiss to end the moment he did.

"Are you ready to talk now?"

"No. I told you…"

What ever it was that Harry was going to tell her he'd told her was lost as her lips cut him off. This time he didn't even last half as long as he had the first time and once again the moment he gave in she pulled back just enough to ask him again. Brain a bit fuzzy but not addled enough to actually admit to anything (he was nothing if not stubborn, after all), Harry again replied in the negative but barely got the word 'no' out before he was once again silenced by her lips.

This time he didn't give more than a token struggle as she parted her lips and once again brushed the tip of her tongue against his lips as one of her hands slid inside of his shirt and pressed flat against his heart. The new assault on his senses made him gasp and groan before he whimpered as her tongue slipped between his lips to brush against his slightly parted teeth before retreating.

Vertigo swept over Harry as another spike of heat shot through him to pool in his belly before it shifted south as his body began to show its appreciation for the things Dorothy was doing to him with her kisses. His heart was pounding and if he could have formed a coherent thought he'd have realized that Dorothy could feel the erratic beating of his heart through his shirt due to the hand she'd deliberately placed over his heart. He was also breathing quite raggedly as Dorothy broke the kiss yet again and drew a soft whine of protest from him in the process.

"Are you ready to admit that you feel something for me now?" Dorothy asked breathlessly as she hadn't exactly been unaffected by the kisses they'd been sharing and he couldn't help but shake his head no in response. "How many heated kisses do we have to share until you are willing to admit to yourself what your body is already telling us both?"

Harry's eyes, which had fallen shut at some point, snapped open to find her watching him with intense violet eyes that had darkened with desire completely unaware that his eyes were reflecting the same emotion. He knew in that instant that she'd keep on teasing and testing him until he broke down and admitted that he found her desirable whether he really wanted to or not. She wasn't going to back down and he wasn't certain he really wanted her to. He was also certain that he didn't like her teasing him in such a way just to get a reaction from him because she stubbornly refused to take no for an answer.

When he looked back on the moment later, he wouldn't quite be able to pinpoint the exact moment when he'd stopped thinking logically and stopped fighting what some small part of him had been telling him from the moment their lips first touched when she stole his first kiss; all he knew was that one minute he was adamantly trying to deny his growing attraction and the next he was establishing himself as an alpha staking his claim on a desirable mate. He later ended up blaming it on the wolf-like mentality that Zero and Wolfstar had developed the moment Harry compared Zero to Moony.

With a soft growl over how submissive he'd been behaving, Harry straightened up and somehow managed to give the impression that he was looming over Dorothy despite the fact that she was a good five or six inches taller than him. He'd then taken a single step forward so that he was no longer pressed up against the desk, spun the two of them around so Dorothy was the one pinned against the desk, and then moved in for the kill… or rather the kiss. This was no teasing kiss meant to draw a mere confession from her… no this was a domineering kiss that claimed her mouth as his as he gave into the desire she'd stirred in him and allowed instincts he didn't know he had to guide him in his conquest.

His mouth the proceeded to plunder her mouth thoroughly as she moaned softly against his mouth and his magic swirled excitedly around the two of them.

He then broke the kiss to trail fiery kisses down her jaw until he reached her ear and he reached forward to catch her when she gasped in pleasure as her knees buckled. He sat her down on the desk, which put them on a more even level as the height of the desk was fairly low to accommodate his short stature, and buried his hands in her long tresses as he returned his lips to hers so he could drink in the taste of peppermint and chocolate that he was quickly starting to associate with her kisses – a combination of the breath mints she always nibbled on and the hot chocolate she'd taken to drinking to keep warm during the winter and still cool spring air of Scotland.

Her hands slipped his outer shirt off of his shoulders, freeing his wings and disturbing the two cobras (who seemed confused by the strange dance the two humans were participating in) as he placed himself between her legs and continued to ravish her mouth. Her fingers brushed over the scales of his wings and he moaned low in his throat at the feeling it invoked as he broke the kiss and arched backwards slightly. The feel of her lips on his neck and her fingers caressing his wings sent a wave of pure lust through him and the heat of it staggered him as he'd never before felt such feelings.

He dropped his hands to Dorothy's hips, pulled her forward so that she was flush against him and the evidence of just how desirable he found her, and buried his face in the crook of her neck while his wings reached out and forward to wrap around them both. Her soft mewling cries of desire filled his ears as he felt her pressing even closer to him as he kneaded her bum with his fingers and nibbled his way from her neck to her ear. His hands then slipped upwards and slid beneath her shirt so that he was caressing the bare skin of her back and nipped at her neck just below her ear. He could feel her fingers digging into his shoulders as she arched her back, baring her throat to him and he growled appreciatively as he pressed his lips to the base of her neck and felt the racing of her heartbeat fluttering against his mouth.

Wrapping his right arm more securely around her, he brought his left hand around to splay his fingers across the silky smoothness of her stomach before sliding upwards to trace the edge of her ribcage. Dorothy pressed a dozen feather light kisses across his face as she once again ran her fingers along the top edge of his wings while wrapping her legs around his waist. It was enough to drive him crazy as he dropped his left hand to her right leg and slid it beneath her skirt to run his fingers up her leg and beneath the edge of her lace trimmed panties to massage her bum once more. A questioning mental nudge from Wolfstar brought him back to reality at that point and he stilled as he struggled to catch his breath and cool his desire; something that was increasingly difficult with a hot and bothered Dorothy in his arms.

Once he thought he could trust himself to speak, Harry set Dorothy back a ways so they were no longer pressed up against each other and leaned forward to rasp in her ear, "If you insist on starting something you'd best be prepared for the consequences because you can bet your pretty little behind that I will finish it. This will be the only warning I give you; if you step into the fire thinking that this is some kind of a game you will get burned. I don't play games; I play for keeps. I suggest you think very carefully about what you think to gain by pushing me because there is a good chance that you won't like the end result. Magic can be wondrous but it is also very unforgiving and there are some things that magic just can't fix."

Harry retracted his wings, stepped away from the desk, and pulled his shirt back up so his wings were once again hidden before he walked away. He needed to find a large enough pond he could dive in because he felt as if his entire body was on fire. A large part of him was also screaming obscenities at him because he was walking away from Dorothy knowing full well that she'd been completely receptive to the idea of going further (at least physically even if he wasn't certain how she felt emotionally and mentally). Wolfstar found him around the third floor and Harry gave the metal wolf a pat on the head in thanks (for waking him up enough to at least warn Dorothy and stop before things went too far and he hurt her).

He was just walking down the main staircase when he ran into Cathy, who'd been on her way up to look for him and Dorothy. He glanced at her once and told her that Dorothy would need moral support and someone to talk to because she'd pushed him too far this time but gave her no details as he continued on passed her without stopping. He was then stepping outside and relishing the cold wind blowing across his fevered body as he headed to the forest in search of a pond before he stopped and spun around as he finally remembered there was a large, freezing cold lake conveniently parked right beside the castle.

Ten minutes later, he was sitting on the floor of the lake neck deep in the icy water after having discarded his shirt and shivering as the water leached the heat from his body and wings; uncaring that his right hand and arm were throbbing as the icy water seeped beneath the glove he wore. Dropping backwards, Harry let the water close completely over his face as he starred up at the sky through the water as he felt water and mud sliding between the scales of his wings and drawing off the last of his body heat. He intended to hold himself beneath the water until the need for air brought him up only for Obduro's concerned face to block out the moon. Closing his eyes, Harry sat up again and wrapped his arms around his legs as he stared out over the lake.

The centaur clucked his tongue, draped his shirt around his shoulders (tucking the wings back inside the hidden pocket), gathered Harry into his arms, and carried him back towards the castle like a lost foal. As he listened to the rhythmic thumping of Obduro's hooves, Harry couldn't help but wonder aloud if all girls were troublesome or if he was just cursed to only encounter those that drove him up a wall. The centaur chuckled in amusement but Harry couldn't muster the strength to feel annoyed as a bone deep chill filled him as the biting wind cut through his soaking clothes.

By the time they reached the castle, Harry was chilled to the bone but feeling far more in control of himself than he had when he'd first walked out of the castle. He quietly thanked Obduro for putting up with him (something that only served to amuse the centaur further) as he was set on his feet before bidding the centaur goodnight. He took a minute to purge the water and mud from his clothes so that he didn't drip all over the stone floors before he made his way inside to find Wufei sitting on the bottom step waiting for him.

"Feeling better?"

"I don't know… all I know is that I needed to cool off before I did something stupid so I went for a late night swim in the lake."

"Cold showers have been rumored to work just as well and are less likely to see you developing a respiratory infection due to needless exposure to the elements," Wufei commented dryly.

"Not when there is a seventy percent chance that the source of your overheating is going to follow you because she's too damn stubborn to know when to leave well enough alone. Whose idea was it to send her to fetch me anyway?"

"Did you wish to talk about what happened?"

"I don't know… I think I'd rather dig up a bowl of soup, some chocolate, and a bottle of something fortifying but since I know I have interviews to sit through in the morning I'm going to have to settle for two out of three instead."

Wufei smiled and shook his head before he led the way to the kitchen so Harry could get his requested soup and chocolate only once he had both in hand he only stared morosely at the cup of hot chocolate as he distinctly recalled the taste of peppermint and chocolate on his tongue as he mercilessly ravished Dorothy's mouth. Sighing, wondering if he'd ever be able to think of chocolate or peppermint without thinking of those kisses again, Harry shoved the mug away and slowly worked his way through the bowl of clam chowder he'd fixed for himself. The comforting presence of his brother and the soup went a long ways towards restoring his equilibrium, though he still didn't touch the chocolate.

He slept alright that night, curled up beneath a pair of fledgling phoenixes and on top of Wolfstar, but his dreams were haunted by violet eyes, blonde hair, and fire and he woke to find he'd turned his blanket to ash because his wings had ignited during the night (which the two phoenixes at least had appreciated – Wolfstar, not so much). Breakfast was a bit tense as the moment Harry walked into the Great Hall his eyes locked with Dorothy's and the temperature in the room spiked for a moment before Harry tore his gaze away. But not before he'd seen the flush that had crept across her face and neck and Harry wondered if it was desire or embarrassment that had caused her to blush before he decided that he didn't need or want to know.

He was distracted further from the events of the night before when a warmly bundled up babe was deposited in his arms and he couldn't help but smile softly as he heard the small boy coo adorably as he waved his tiny fists. Feeding the squirming boy wasn't much different then feeding the phoenixes when they'd first hatched (only slightly less noisy) and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the faces the baby would make over the porridge when Harry didn't mix it with the mashed fruits that were part of Ebert's breakfast.

Feeling a little lighter, Harry cleaned the boy's face and passed him back to his mother with a soft thank you once they were both done eating so that he could take care of the scheduled interviews. Sadly, of the twenty interviews he held, only three of the applicants were properly qualified for the positions for which they had applied and while there were another two that were semi-qualified, they had irritated Harry with their condescending attitude because of age or rather his apparent lack of age.

The feeling of dissatisfaction drove Harry into kicking everyone out of the Great Hall so he could attempt to reactivate the charms that had once allowed the ceiling to mimic the sky outside. The former headmasters had given Harry the spell months earlier but it required far more magic than he'd wanted to expend at the time and so had put it off. Right now though, his lingering frustration from the night before and his irritation from the rather unproductive morning meant that a large expenditure of magic was just what he needed.

Eight hours later, around supper time, everyone filed into the room tentatively now that the doors were no longer magically locked to find Harry flat on his back, his hands clasped beneath his head, and a satisfied smile on his sleeping face; above him the ceiling turned fiery red and orange as the repaired ceiling charm displayed the setting sun outside. The resident centaur and the older five children were absolutely entranced with the magical ceiling that brought the stars close enough to almost touch and spent most of the night staring up at it instead of eating. Once he'd made it up to his bed, he slept better that night due to the mild exhaustion though he still ended up with a singed blanket and sheets due to his dreams.

The next morning saw him teaching Spera and Spero how to stretch their wings and flight muscles in order to prepare them for their first flight. A lesson that was mocked and ridiculed by Seth while Anubis simply laughed over a human teaching a phoenix to fly; Seth just insisted that Harry had hit his head far too hard. Harry then reminded both snakes that he'd been flying longer than both of them had been alive and without wings which shut the snakes up quite nicely. The entire argument had taken place in front of a dozen witnesses that had found the fact that Harry was arguing with snakes more than a little amusing and not a little bizarre.

That afternoon saw him being reminded that the first baby wizard, his clone, was due in less than two months with the other three oldest set to be born one a week apart a month after that in order to stagger the births a bit and allow Harry those first four weeks to adjust to taking care of a child. The last four weren't due until about four months after the fourth child was born. Cathy and Annemarie (Ebert's mother) gave Harry his next lesson in fatherhood the day after that revelation; infant shopping one-oh-one.

They taught him about the different baby formulas available and why one type was better for some babies but not good for others (lactose intolerance was brought up a time or two) and how for the first couple of months the babies would not be able to digest solids. They then lectured him on the differences between disposable and cloth diapers (Harry was going with cloth since reusable diapers would be less expensive in the quantities that he was going to need). Similar lectures covered bathing products, clothes, shoes, hygiene products, and a dozen other necessary supplies.

By the time they returned to the castle just before supper, Harry thought his brain might have been turned to mush from the sheer volume of information that the two women had tried to cram into his head. He'd also purchased far more than he thought he'd need and spent more than he'd intended (though he saved quite a bit buying in bulk the way he did). The clerks at the various stores had ogled his purchases until he quietly explained he was donating the items to a small nation that had taken in a number of orphaned children which had earned him a two percent discount at all but one of the shops and Harry felt slightly guilty even though his statement hadn't actually been an outright lie.

He'd barely managed to get everything put away when his three new employees showed up a full sixteen hours early in the company of Trowa and Heero. Harry gave his brothers a funny look because he hadn't expected either of them to turn up (Duo having been the next one scheduled to join him in a few days) before he whisked the two men and one older teen (his new employees) off to give them the full tour. All three of them signed their employment contracts three hours later and Harry welcomed them aboard and told them to see Cathy for keys to their assigned quarters after they grabbed something to eat. Harry himself didn't even get a chance to eat before Heero and Trowa hauled him off for a rather serious discussion.

Harry at first thought they were going to pester him about what had been happening between him and Dorothy only to find that they'd come to discuss White Fang. The news that Treize suddenly became the spokesman for the activist group was a little troubling but Harry didn't think it newsworthy at first. Then he learned that Treize had built (sometime after he'd been disposed as the leader of OZ) a Gundam that was equal to Wing Zero with an operating system that was just as dangerous if not more so since the system was purported to be able to completely take over control the pilot instead of just make them hallucinate.

On top of that, they informed him that White Fang had captured the five Gundam scientists again and the group now was using the Planet Defensers to protect all of their mobile suits (including the mobile dolls). Worse yet, the group had begun taking Quatre's many sisters living throughout the colonies hostage in the hopes of drawing out all six of the Star Pilots; holding the six of them responsible for the 'false' peace, the 'traitorous' actions of Zechs, and the 'death' of Lady Une.

They claimed they'd be willing to enter peaceful negotiations if and only if the Demon of the Stars was handed over to face justice for the death of 'many dedicated and honorable' soldiers that had perished in the Battle for the Moon. The penalty for failing to hand over the 'demon' would be the destruction of the earth as they fully intended on dropping one of the colonies onto the planet which would effectively wipe out the planet's entire population (in addition to those living on the colony they would be dropping on the planet).

When they finished, Harry didn't say a word as he walked out of the room. His eyes picked out Obduro's towering form and he walked straight up to the ancient centaur and gently grabbed his attention by trailing his fingers across the centaur's flank as he approached him from his blind side. When Obduro twisted around to look at him, Harry asked a single question that immediately drew the attention of everyone in the room.

"How many lives is one soul worth?"

"Mars will burn for a hundred years straight should the wolf bar his teeth in the face of the hunter," Obduro answered gravely. "Should the wolf walk willingly into the hunters trap, then the stars shall give rise to the guardian's ire and the huntsman and his hounds shall fall beneath the rabbit's shadow."

Harry nodded once as he mentally called for Wolfstar to return to his side.

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**AN:** _Harry and Dorothy's relationship… I'm still catching a lot of flack for this but I'm still not changing my mind. This story is, for the most part, completely written bar the final few chapters where I'm trying to wrap up the plot and fill in any holes I've missed. I will not go back and rewrite over twenty-five chapters just because a handful of people are displeased with my choice in partners for Harry. This is my vision… if you want to see a different scenario play out, please feel free to write it and post it. I might even read it when/if you do…_

_Next point… some people see Dorothy's change of character as being too hard to believe but I've already established Harry's ability to affect the people around him. Starting with Heero becoming more human, Trowa getting in touch with his emotions, Zechs discovering his parental side, and Zayeed getting a wake up call – just to mention a few. Dorothy is still stubborn, she's still intelligent, and she is still aware of the political aspects of the relationship that she wants with Harry (as she briefly pointed out here in this chapter). _

_We'll see more insight in her metamorphosis in three to five chapters as the next handful of chapters will deal with the White Fang Arc. _

_Finally, some of you might say that Harry is acting inconsistent in his reaction to Dorothy and their shared kisses based upon his past. So, since I know it will most likely come up, I'll address the important points now. One; Dorothy is not Snape and Harry knows that on some levels. Two; Harry has finally addressed the worst of his emotional baggage from his past and that has affected his responses (for the most part anyway). Will he still have issues now and then? Yes, but they won't be the same issues each and every time. Three; Harry experienced his first crush before he was thrown forward through time and he did admit that Dorothy is smart and pretty, so it isn't hard for him to be attracted to her even if he doesn't want to be at this point. _

_Four; Harry has matured since he first found Heero and he's also done a considerable amount of healing both mentally and emotionally (even if he still has room for more healing and growth). And fifth; Dorothy's stolen kisses are a far cry from the unwanted intimate touches from the guards back when Harry was still a prisoner or from the unpleasantness he remembers from the detentions with Snape. I'm sure there are other points that could be addressed, but I think I've made enough of a point for now. Maybe._

_That said, I will apologize for not getting this chapter up sooner; I was frustrated by negativity in regards to my chosen pairing for this story and trying to get WWY2 ready for posting on top of late winter and spring being my busy time of year to deal with the critters. I was also trying to smooth out the scene between Harry and Dorothy in this chapter._

_I should admit to getting sucked into starting two new stories because my dust bunnies morphed into plot bunnies and sparked a pair of Hunter X Hunter/HP crossovers. I've also been trying to finish at least one of the HP/Naruto crossovers (and those bunnies have multiplied yet again and I now have FIVE of those (all with different plots) in the works. Plus there's an HP/SAO crossover that I've been writing and the edits I've been doing on the final installment of my Discovering Series (which I'll start posting soon). _

_Anyway, my point is that I've been busy but I've not abandoned any of my stories. On the plus side, the next eighteen chapters of this story are also pretty much prepped and ready for posting and I will be posting them at least once a week for the duration of the summer. I also have the final four chapters of Haunted ready for posting. I just have to upload everything and clean up the formatting before posting them. There's more I could say but I think I've said enough for now, so I'll leave it here. Thank you all for the reviews and support and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. ~ Jenn_


	43. Inevitability

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 42: Inevitability

Once Wolfstar entered the room, Harry bowed to the centaur, glanced at each of his three brothers that were present, and held Dorothy's eyes for a full minute before he stepped outside into the courtyard. He took a moment to restore the sentient suit to his full size and allow him to switch back to suit mode before he climbed up into the cockpit. Fifteen minutes later, Harry's face was appearing on every single television screen and monitor throughout the known universe as he hacked into every single satellite network with practiced ease (courtesy of his brothers' many hacking lessons).

Inside Hogwarts, Heero and Trowa scrambled back into the antechamber to try and raise Harry over the laptop only to find Harry was already addressing the world. It didn't take long for several more bodies to press into the room in order to better hear Taliesin's words the moment it was made known that Harry was broadcasting.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Taliesin Bard. As of ten minutes ago, I was informed that the terrorist group collectively known as White Fang has just threatened to attack the Earth. To prevent this attack, the men who lead the White Fang have demanded that the individual known as the Demon of the Stars deliver himself into their custody so that he might face justice. A number of you might recall that I was called the Demon of the Stars on the night when I destroyed an OZ base on the face of the moon after the other Star Pilots and I had been held prisoner within the base for four months when OZ decided to execute my fellow pilots. Those innocent men and women that had nothing to do with the execution order were warned to flee the base before I destroyed it while those who were involved attacked me."

"You see, White Fang fears me because they know they can not face me in a fair fight so they threaten those whom I have always fought to protect; the innocents here on Earth and those living in the various Colonies out in space. They resort to underhanded tricks and despicable methods to paint me into a corner where I have no choice but to give into their demands least they paint first the Earth and then the Colonies with the blood of the innocent. I surrender. I will be waiting for you in Egypt beside the pyramid that once housed Pharaoh Tutankhamen with my Gundam at midnight tonight Greenwich Mean Time."

"My suit will be inactive and I will be standing on the ground alone and unarmed since I know that if I was to attempt to enter space in order to give myself up you would take it as a sign of aggression and attack the Earth out of spite. In turn, I demand that you free those members of the Winner family that you have taken hostage in your attempt to draw me out so that they might be reunited with their family. So long as they are released here on Earth when you come to collect me and you do not attack the earth once I am in custody; I will give you my word that none of the other pilots I call brother will retaliate against White Fang regardless of what happens to me and that I will not fight."

The transmission cut out and as one those inside of Hogwarts dashed out to the courtyard only to find that Harry had left sometime during the course of his speech. Harry in the mean time was already halfway to Egypt, giving Wolfstar last minute instructions as he removed any and every weapon he was carrying except for his wand. He even removed Seth and Anubis from inside of his shirt and tucked both snakes into the terrarium that he had installed below the fold out bed so that they would be safe (much to their dismay and disgruntlement).

He also used his wand to make the elbow length glove he wore over his right hand and arm blend into his skin and feel more skin-like and less leather-like in order to prevent anyone from attempting to remove it. After a moment's consideration, he did the same thing to the pair of handcuffs that still hung about his left wrist.

"You can't let them know you're awake, boy; so once I get out you have to turn everything off except the life support and your external cameras. I want you to lock yourself up tightly too, don't let them get inside but don't use the wards to shock them either since they'll need to load you into the shuttle or ship. If they try to destroy you, go stealth and follow wherever they take me; just be careful. The last thing I want you to do is record everything that happens from the moment they arrive and patch it through to the Gundams and home. They will need to know what happens because if I don't show them they'll only do something stupid and I can't have them doing that."

Wolfstar replied with a series of video and audio clips that showed his agitation, his worry, and his compliance and Harry spent several minutes reassuring the sentient suit that everything would be alright before spending the rest of the flight in silence. They arrived at his chosen point of surrender approximately forty-five minutes early (the location chosen based upon how far it was far from Hogwarts and Scotland, the fact that the area was sparsely populated, and because King Tut's tomb sat over another large nexus of ley lines; making the area magically significant). Harry spent a good fifteen minutes scanning the area to make certain that White Fang hadn't arrived before him to set up an ambush before he slipped his wand into the hidden holster in his glove at the base of his wrist and stepped up to the door.

Wolfstar whined and refused to open the door at first and Harry sighed as he reassured the suit a second time before ordering him to open the door. Dropping down to the ground, Harry leaned against Wolfstar's leg as the suit locked himself down and began powering down those systems that were not integral to his survival. Once the suit appeared completely lifeless, Harry sat down on Wolfstar's left foot to wait for the arrival of White Fang as he had no doubt that they would come for him; his left hand absently brushing back and forth over the surface of the foot to let Wolfstar know he was still there.

Half an hour later, at exactly five minutes till midnight, bright light poured down over the desert as a large spacecraft dropped down out of the sky above Harry. He brought his left arm up to protect his eyes from the glare of the lights after spending so long in the dark with only the stars to light his surroundings. The ground rumbled as close to thirty mobile suits dropped down onto the ground at the same time, completely surrounding Harry and Wolfstar. Through the light, all Harry could make out of the suits were that they looked similar in appearance to the Taurus models that OZ created and based upon their rather ungraceful landings were more than likely unmanned dolls rather than piloted suits.

"_Put your hands in the air and step away from the Gundam._"

Harry clenched his jaw when he recognized the voice issuing the order as belonging to Treize Khushrenada but did as ordered without any hesitation. He'd walked about ten feet away from Wolfstar when Treize ordered him to stop and turn around slowly before being ordered to face north, place his hands on the back of his head, and kneel on the ground. A circle of guns was soon covering him as a dozen and a half soldiers surrounded him. He barely flinched when he felt hands press down over his own hands as a pair of soldiers stepped up behind him and held him securely as they frisked him in search of hidden weapons.

"I must say you have grown since I last saw you," Treize declared as he walked up to stand just a few feet in front of Harry. The man then looked to the two men standing directly behind Harry. "Strip him and search him a second time; I want there to be no doubt that he is completely unarmed."

Harry didn't say anything in response nor did he attempt to fight the hands that were systematically removing his clothes and his glasses. There was a brief moment of confusion when his wings were revealed as they removed his over shirt but it didn't last very long. He winced when one of the soldiers pulled roughly on his right wing (as if trying to remove the wing from Harry's body) but he still made no move to fight them. Instead, Harry simply held Treize's gaze.

"We found no weapons or animals any where on him or in his clothes, sir," one of the soldiers stated once the rather humiliating search was over.

"Give him his underwear back, secure his hands and feet, burn the rest of his clothes, and bind those wings of his while you're at it so he can't fly off. The rest of you start escorting the Winner women down from the shuttle and prepare the Gundam for transport."

Harry tensed as he felt his wings roughly bunched up and bound with tape that pulled painfully on the individual scales. He wasn't looking forward to the moment the tape was pulled off either as he suspected that the heavy duty tape would painfully tear out more than one scale if not removed carefully. He did derive a brief moment of enjoyment out of watching the soldiers trying to burn his clothes; the fireproofing runes a recent addition that he'd sewn into the hems of his shirts to prevent them from catching fire even when doused with gasoline (the ward runes the only way to avoid overloading the shirt with magic and necessary due to the high number of shirts he'd ruined due to his wings catching fire over the past year). They eventually gave it up as a lost cause and buried the clothes and his glasses in the sand.

All traces of humor left him though when he watched several of Quatre's older sisters being herded next to the crumbling pyramid and he easily recognized Iria's voice as she called out to him, "Taliesin!"

"Don't worry about me, Iria," Harry called out only to earn a boot in the stomach from the soldier standing over him. Doubling over, Harry closed his eyes against the pain for a moment before he craned his head up and spoke out a second time. "Quatre will send someone to collect all of you as soon as White Fang leaves."

"Shut your mouth, scum," the same soldier growled as he kicked Harry a second time, this time on his left side since he was still hunched over.

"Taliesin!" Iria called a second time, fear lacing her voice.

"Watch over my brothers for me please?" Harry asked as he looked up and gave her a pained smile.

He never heard her reply as the soldier standing guard over him cracked him in the back of the head with the butt of his rifle; sending him into his mindscape. Harry sighed as he was bowled over by a large, frantic wolf (the mental representation of his connection to Wolfstar) and wondered why he couldn't ever seem to catch a break once in a while. Shaking his head, Harry calmed Zero down before sending the wolf off to patrol the edges of his mind while Harry headed into the house of mirrors he'd built over time to sort a few memories to pass the time. As he worked, he kept his link to Wolfstar open so that he could keep an eye on what was happening outside. He got a brief glimpse of his body being loaded into a shuttle before Wolfstar's range of vision was reduced to the inside of a cargo bay.

The secondhand message Wolfstar passed to him from his brothers not long after that drew a short, bitter laugh from Harry as they'd threatened to clip his wings when they got hold of him for taking off like he did. He knew they wouldn't actually hurt him and were just upset that he'd surrendered the way he did but he also knew that they knew that he really hadn't had much of a choice. The message he had Wolfstar give them in return was for them to not do anything stupid and to watch over Crystal Valley for him until he returned. And Harry had no doubt that he would return to his home when all of this was over; he would settle for nothing less.

Harry was still trapped in his mindscape, his body unconscious, when he experienced the odd pain of leaving the atmosphere of the Earth for the second time. This time the pulling on his core lasted far longer, as if the very planet did not wish to let him or his magic leave and the pain of the connection finally breaking and his core snapping back into place was enough to wake him up. He'd have clutched at his heart in an attempt to ease the pain but his hands were firmly secured behind his back so all he could do was voice a verbal complaint in the form of a long string of curses. When the pain finally ebbed, Harry sank back into his mindscape and searched out the representation of his core (a large fountain set in the very center of his house of mirrors) and found the room overflowing.

He furrowed his brow since he couldn't think of any reason for his core to be overcharged with magic until he recalled what Obduro had told him about humans being the only magical beings born with a magical core capable of producing magic and that the Earth drew its magic from the wizard (or witch). And because he'd just left Earth, that portion of his magic that the earth drew on was no longer being siphoned from his core. A wave of nausea washed through Harry as he worried what the loss of that magic might mean to those left on earth and he prayed that it wouldn't have a negative effect on any of the children (no matter what species they were).

Knowing there was nothing he could do about it right now; Harry focused his attention back on the flooded room and wondered what he should do with the excess magic. After a while he decided that he should enlarge the room, deepen the pool that held the fountain, and create an overflow tank (or two) to collect the excess magic to prevent it from spilling out into the rest of his mindscape. Harry's impulsive decision to modify his core (since the representation of his core in his mindscape was tied directly to his actual core) would have far reaching consequences for the young mage.

A normal magical core in a healthy wizard can be compared to a small drinking fountain or a forest pond which holds a set amount of water or, in the case of the core, magic; that is fed by an underground spring (the core producing said magic) that only flows when there is room available in the fountain or pond (endlessly maintaining the set amount of magic each core holds). That means that the small amount of magic that the Earth siphons off from a witch or wizard is constantly being replaced in order to keep the fountain or pool topped off to maximum capacity. When a wizard casts a spell he is drawing upon the pool which means that the core has to produce more magic to replace what was lost.

The amount of time it takes for a wizard to replace that magic varies from person to person depending on their age and gender. Children usually take longer to replace the expended magic because their cores are not being exercised regularly and they have no control over how much magic they use and so tend to exhaust themselves each time they have an accidental outburst. Fully trained adults, on the other hand, are constantly using their magic so their cores are constantly producing more magic so that it seems as if their magic is replaced instantly but that isn't actually the case since if they suddenly stopped casting for a longer than normal period of time their cores would overflow before their core realized it had produced too much magic.

When Dumbledore bound Harry's core as a child, what he basically did was restrict the amount of magic that Harry's core could produce at one time; like partially plugging a faucet to cut the flow of water through it or changing a two inch pipe out with a one inch pipe to restrict the flow of water (or in the case of Harry's core the magic being produced). That means that instead of taking a full day to recover from magical exhaustion it would take two or more. Because he was still a child at the time, Harry's core adapted and since it couldn't increase the amount of magic it produced it increased the speed at which it produced the magic in order to make up the difference.

Each time Dumbledore further restricted Harry's core it would be forced to work all that much harder to replace the magic that Harry used; exercising Harry's core and pushing him to his limits even before he reached Hogwarts (a foolish thing to do, really, if Dumbledore's end goal had been to keep Harry weak but few wizards back then had known how the core actually worked). After nearly thirteen years of constant restriction and conditioning, the sudden removal of those bindings when Sirius gave him the magical purgative caused Harry's core to literally flood his entire body with magic; one of the reasons the unbinding had caused so much pain.

If Harry had been a girl it would have been worse because a woman's core typically replenishes faster because their bodies will one day nourish the next generation and while the baby grows in her womb her core is providing her child with magic since the magical core is one of the last things to develop. Harry's core was similarly providing excess magic to the clones in the clinic as the fetuses had latched onto the nearest source of magic needed to sustain their lives once they could no longer draw sufficient magic from the atmosphere as they had during their first trimester.

That meant that he had a total of fifteen siphons (his link to Wolfstar counting as one) drawing magic from his core at all times but he never noticed the drain because his core was constantly replacing the magic the instant the magic was pulled from his core. When he left the atmosphere, fourteen of those links were forcibly snapped due to the distance involved and the fact that he was no longer bound to the Earth's gravitational pull (Wolfstar's link while similar was different enough that it wasn't affected and the fact that the suit wasn't that far away helped keep it going as well).

The pain came from the sudden flooding of excess magic over the unexpected cessation of what had up until that point been a constant drain on his core. A drain that was far larger than any previous wizard could have maintained simply because the constant pull on their core would have drained them dry within weeks since their cores wouldn't have been able to produce the magic needed fast enough. The only reason that Harry's core could cope with the constant draw was because of the conditioning Dumbledore had forced upon his core since Harry was still in diapers.

When those links draining off his excess magic were removed without any warning, the magic that was being drawn off by them was still being replaced by his core and because that magic was no longer being drawn out of the pool that was his core it overflowed (much like a clogged sink would overflow if you leave the faucet on). There was more pain involved this time because the amount of magic that was being steadily replaced had been larger (the first time he'd gone into space he'd only had one link to the earth that was so small that breaking it had only hurt for an instant whereas this time he had been dealing with fifteen such links and the one remaining link didn't pull enough magic from his core to make up for the sudden absence of the fourteen other links disappearing).

Now, the size of a wizard's core (or the size of his magical reservoir) unlike the rest of his genetic make-up, is not determined by the size of his parents' cores; a magical core can not be copied or split after all. The size of a magical child's core is determined by how much magic he or she is exposed to during the course of his or her mother's pregnancy. One of the reasons that muggleborn children tend to be less powerful than those children born to magicals is directly related to the amount of magic the baby is exposed to during gestation (especially in the last trimester of the pregnancy); though there are occasional exceptions.

In Harry's case, his mother was in the middle of the war and throwing around large amounts of magic as she was constantly fighting for her life and the lives of her friends and family even after she knew she was pregnant and so Harry was constantly surrounded by large amounts of magic which resulted in a larger than average core.

A wizard's core rarely ever grows once he has been born though it is possible to force a core to grow through trauma and an excessive overflow of magic. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry as a baby, his killing curse combined with whatever magic his mother had used to protect him on top of the magic inherent in her willing sacrifice flooded Harry's core and body to the point where his core had been forced to grow or he'd have died from the sheer amount of magic that had flooded his tiny body. Something similar happened when Sirius gave Harry the purging potion and sent him through time; the forced removal all of the foreign magic inside of his mind, body, and core (most especially the bindings on his core that limited the amount of magic it could produce) caused his entire body to be flooded by an enormous excess magic in an extremely short amount of time (much like a pressurized water pipe bursting from the stress).

The fact that the purger mistakenly treated several outside sources of magic (the basilisk venom, the phoenix tears, the magic of the time traveling device, and the remnants of Voldemort's magic that clung to the soul fragment in Harry's scar) as part of Harry's magic didn't help because it essentially multiplied the amount of magic that his core and body were trying to contain. Once again, his core was forced to expand in order to contain as much of the magic as possible least the sheer volume of free flowing magic kill him or turn him into a squib (much like a power surge would trip a breaker, burn out a fuse, or fry a system board).

In both cases (the night Voldemort tried to kill him and the day Sirius fed him the purger), his core simply doubled its size which really only meant that his magical stamina had increased since the size of the core only determined how much magic you had available to cast and not how well you could cast a spell or how powerful the spells you cast would be.

When Harry was first born, his core would have been represented by a four foot by four foot room with large pool in the center that was about three and a half feet in diameter and approximately three feet deep (if he'd been born with a fully functional mindscape). On the night when he had been surrounded by the power of his mother's protection and sacrifice and hit with Voldemort's overpowered killing curse; the pool that was his core hadn't been anywhere near large enough to handle both the magic his core was producing and the magic that was flooding his body (the fact that most of the magic was foreign was inconsequential at the time since there was no purgative in his system to separate the foreign magic from his own magic).

In order to survive at that point, his pool needed to be larger but since Harry was still basically an infant the only way it could expand was downwards, so his pool of magic went from three feet deep to six feet deep; three times the depth of an average wizard's core. When the blocks on his core were removed and the foreign magic drawn into his core, the same thing essentially happened, only because he was older at the time it was the actual room that held his core that doubled in size along with the diameter of the pool making the room eight foot by eight foot and the pool seven feet in diameter and still six feet deep with a small fountain in the center.

When Harry set about modifying his magical core intentionally, he first doubled the size of the room again, making it sixteen feet by sixteen feet. He then enlarged the circumference of the original pool to an even fourteen feet and multiplied the depth by two which gave it a depth of twelve feet. In addition to increasing the size of his core a third time, he went on to create a second reservoir to hold the excess magic – something that no other wizard had ever done (though there had been more than a few that had modified their cores out of necessity or greed). Furthermore, because he had not thought to limit the amount of magic the overflow could hold (having no true understanding of how a wizard's core functioned other than it produced magic and held the magic his core produced) meant that he basically created a bottomless well of magic that he could potentially draw upon.

With no limit on how much magic his core could hold, his core would simply continue to produce magic instead of only producing enough to replace what was siphoned off or used (since there was now nothing to tell his core – oh hey, buddy slow production down, the pool is full). And because his core had been conditioned to produce as much magic as it could as fast as it could (due to the thirteen years his core was bound and the large amount of magic he'd been casting since he had found Heero on the beach) he was now producing a steady overflow of magic and the large fountain in the middle of the room ended up becoming a rather steady, if small, geyser.

Now, contrary to what many would assume, having a near limitless supply of magic did not make Harry some kind of super mage; after all, his skill level and control over his magic hadn't changed one wit. What it did mean, was that Harry would now find it much harder to magically exhaust himself when performing low to mid-level spells that used an amount of magic that was less than the amount that his core produced in the same amount of time. He could still over exhaust himself if he cast a large number of high-level spells back to back and in the process managed to drain both the reservoir and his main core; it would just take him longer to do so and his recovery time would be far shorter because his main core would only be drained once the overflow had been used and he'd only have to refill his main core to regain his normal energy levels (the bottomless reservoir he created to hold the overflow having no bearing on the functions of his original core since it was there only to catch what his core couldn't hold).

Once he was finished modifying his core, Harry traced his link to Wolfstar and nudged the sentient suit into allowing Harry's consciousness to piggy back on their link so he could speak to one of his brothers. Being inside of Wolfstar's consciousness was disorienting for Harry at first, because the sentient suit, while based upon human thinking and knowledge, did not think the same way a human thought. It also took him a while to get used to the alien environment due to Wolfstar giving his avatar the form of a wolf but once he did it was fairly easy to move through since it was far better organized than Harry's inner mind. In no time at all, Harry found himself looking up and out of a window at Heero and Trowa as the two of them argued.

"How the hell was I supposed to know he was going to surrender without even discussing it with us?" Heero barked as he threw his hands up.

"You still didn't have to paint such a grim picture when you told him what was going on," Trowa snapped back with a wild arm swing. "You should have known he'd throw his life away the moment he knew there was a chance that doing so could potentially protect someone. Despite everything we've done to instill a sense of self-worth in him, Taliesin still sees other people as more important; you knew that!"

"Can the two of you stop arguing for about fifteen minutes or should I go find someone else to talk to?" Harry asked before Heero could give a rebuttal. As one, both Heero and Trowa swung to face the screen and Harry sneezed a wolfish sneeze of laughter as confusion filled their faces the moment their eyes found him. "Thank you… now could one of you please go find Obduro for me? It is very important that I speak to him immediately."

"Heero… is it just me or is that wolf speaking to us?" Trowa asked.

"He sounds quite a bit like Taliesin," Heero commented absently as he leaned closer to the screen.

"That would be because it is me," Harry dryly pointed out as he scratched his ear with his hind leg before he realized what he was doing and immediately stopped. "This is how Wolfstar sees me so this is the body he gave me when I piggy-backed on our link to speak with you since my body is a bit… tied up right now."

"And whose fault is that?" Heero asked snidely.

"Um… Treize's because he's the one that ordered me bound? Not important… can one of you please go get Obduro for me? I don't have much time because I can't leave my body alone for too long."

"Not until you tell us why you took off the way you did without even giving us a chance to put together a plan," Trowa insisted making Heero glance at the other teen in surprise.

"Trowa," Harry growled, his eyes glowing ominously as his wolfish face snarled. "This isn't the time and so help me if any of the children die because you wasted my time here, I will never forgive you."

Both teens blanched and Heero took off running while Trowa dropped down into the chair, "I didn't… I wouldn't…"

"I know, Trowa," Harry sighed as he dropped down to his belly and propped his chin on his forepaws. "This is another of those times when the Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. Only this time, instead of bringing a suit to life or giving myself wings I might well have killed all of the clones or worse."

Harry would have said more but at that moment Heero returned with Obduro and several other people in tow and Harry jumped to his feet and pressed his forepaws to the screen the moment he caught sight of the centaur, "Obduro, please, will the children survive to be born? I didn't know… the first time it happened I had no idea what had happened so I didn't think twice about it but this time… it felt like my magic was going to be ripped out of my chest. Please tell me the loss of my connection to the earth isn't going to kill them. Please don't let me have killed my… my son."

Harry's wolf ears had pressed flat back against his skull and he had practically been whining in fear by the time he finished addressing the centaur. He dropped back away from the screen and scrubbed at his face with both forelegs as he sat back on his haunches before he spoke once more, his voice sounding weary, "I only surrendered because I didn't want to risk anything happening to the future of the magical world or threatening the safety of the children and to find out I might have killed them myself because of this would kill me."

"There is enough ambient magic in the air to sustain them all for the time being, young mage," Obduro rumbled after giving the matter a few minutes of serious contemplation.

"Thank Merlin," Harry breathed as he sank bonelessly to his belly once more.

"They can not survive on ambient magic forever though and the longer you are gone the greater the risk there is that they will slowly begin to fade. The young magelets will survive either way because they will have an immature core to draw magic from to sustain themselves but if they drain their cores to the point of exhaustion they will damage their core and they will be born as ordinary humans."

"How long?" Harry demanded as he sat up and swung his ears forward, his entire body tense and alert.

"Five days for certain… but they may last as long as seven days. The magelets will have nine days before they exhaust their immature cores."

"One hundred and twenty hours from now or from the moment the link was severed?"

"From the moment the link was severed."

"I will be back. I will not allow your sons and daughters to die because of my mistake," Harry declared with a rumbling growl as he turned around and vanished; instantly sending his consciousness back to his body.

Snapping his eyes open, Harry had but fifteen seconds or so to take in his surroundings once more before another blow to the back of the head sent him right back into his mindscape. Harry wanted to scream because every minute he spent trapped inside of his mind was one less minute he had to find a solution that would both end the threat of the White Fang and get him back home before time ran out. Knowing there wasn't much he could do about his situation right that minute, Harry asked Wolfstar to hack into White Fang's mainframe through his connection to Harry's external laptops and copy everything he could find. Having some idea as to what they planned to do with him could help him figure out how to use their plans to his advantage.

Seventeen hours. He was out for seventeen hours and Wolfstar had been unable to find anything anywhere that could tell him what they were planning to do with him; though he had collected a wealth of other information that might be useful at some point down the line. When Harry did finally wake up it was to find himself securely strapped to a chair, an IV hooked up to his left arm feeding him some kind of paralyzing agent that made it impossible for him to do anything but speak in a slurred mumble and move his eyes.

He was at least pleased to note someone had dressed him in what looked like a pair of gray hospital pants and wished they'd not taken his outer shirt because his wings were feeling sore from the tight binding and the fact he was pretty much sitting on them at the moment. Sitting in front of him were three men; one was a soldier wearing the blue and red uniform of OZ with a white band tied around his left arm, one was Treize, and the last one was a white haired man with a receding hairline wearing thin round wire frame glasses that were too small for his face and gave the man a perpetual pinched look.

"Jou ook ike ssomeun juss toll jou to kisss a sskunk'ss butt," Harry slurred when his eyes fell on the third man who he figured was the real leader of the White Fang; Quinze Quarant.

"I see he is as charming as you said he was, Treize," the spectacled man drawled in a passingly good imitation of Snape's silky yet oily brand of mixed sarcasm and disdain.

"I'm a bit shocked actually, Quinze; he's actually being rather polite," Treize corrected with an amused smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Not worff mah time to smake an effert to impresh shcum," Harry stated simply as he closed his eyes and tried to see if his magic could filter the paralyzing agent from his blood stream faster.

"Don't fall back asleep just yet, boy, we're on a tight schedule here and you're going to need to answer a few questions."

"Cannah smake me… jou…"

"Oh but that's where you're wrong," Quinze interjected before Harry could think of an appropriate insult to hurl at Treize. "Treize graciously told us of your inordinately high tolerance to various drugs, such as tranquilizers, so when you first arrived we used more barbaric methods to gain your cooperation while we sent a sample of your blood to our labs for testing. It took them far longer than I had hoped but they managed to discover that by feeding your body a steady and constant supply of certain drugs and poisons; we would have no problems securing your cooperation with or without your help."

Harry mentally cursed as his eyes rolled down to take in the IV securely taped in place on his left arm and the tube that disappeared up behind him somewhere. When he glanced back up it was to see both Treize and Quinze smirking in satisfaction.

"I see you realize the significance of the IV in your arm now; don't worry it's not a permanent fixture," Quinze continued as he leaned forward and let his eyes slide beyond Harry to address someone standing behind the wizard. "Please open the flow to the sodium pentothal* now and insure that the flow of curare* is not restricted. Make certain to keep the oxygen mask on hand as well in case he goes into respiratory arrest at any point during the interrogation. It would not do to lose our star actor before he plays his part, after all."

Harry's eyes widened as he realized exactly what they were giving him (Duo had spoken of it often enough during his early lessons nearly two years ago that there was no way he could have forgotten what it was even if he wanted to). It was no where near as reliable or potent as Veritaserum but if given in large enough doses it could override his magic's ability to neutralize the drug. By the amount of burning iciness that was flooding his arm, he guessed that they were planning on pumping enough of the drug into his system to kill an elephant which would in turn be too much for his magic to clear away quickly enough to protect him especially since his magic was already fighting against the poison or drug that was paralyzing him.

Dizziness soon set in as the drug began flooding his system and Harry closed his eyes to fight against the effects as he used Occlumency and his link to Wolfstar to lock his mind away to prevent them from drawing forth any information that would harm his family or the magical world. Unfortunately, he wasn't as successful as he'd hoped he would be but it was better than nothing and he would not be any where near as chatty as a muggle would be under the influence of the drug though he would talk more than he'd normally be inclined to in this type of situation.

"What is your name?" Treize asked once some sort of signal had passed between the person standing behind Harry and those seated at the table.

"Arry Pottah," Harry slurred as his eyes flicked open and he tried to focus on the man.

"When were you born?"

"Rong… rong ago," Harry answered, intentionally blocking the real answer from his mind to prevent them from learning of his time traveling whereas his name would gain them nothing because there were no records of him in this time.

"Increase the dosage," Quinze ordered as he scowled at Harry and Harry wished he had enough control of his muscles so he could smirk in response.

Five minutes later, he was asked the same question again and when he gave the same answer, Quinze sharply ordered Treize to skip it and go onto the next question. Over the next ten minutes, Quinze's face went through an assortment of shades and contortions that Harry had once thought only Uncle Vernon could achieve as Harry continued to give sporadic and misleading answers. Harry knew he was only making matters worse for himself each time he laughed giddily under the influence of the drugs but he couldn't help himself. There were some answers that Harry couldn't avoid given though; such as that he'd been born on earth, that his parents were dead, and that Wolfstar was his Gundam. He did at least not mention Wolfstar's sentience, his true age (four hundred and eighty-nine), or where the other Gundam pilots could be found.

It was at that point that they dosed him a third time with the truth drug and moved onto those questions Harry really didn't want to answer. By now, the amount of serum in his blood was giving his magic a seriously hard time and Harry feared he wouldn't be able to continue his misdirection for much longer. His growing worry in turn made his heart rate speed up which circulated the serum and the paralyzing agent faster through his blood stream which in turn made it harder for him to hold back on his answers; though a good portion of his mind was still locked behind his Occlumency shields.

"Who created the Star Suits?"

"OZ… deed jou shend Dororfy and Toedo home jet?" Harry answered and asked as he ignored the pang in his heart at the mention of Dorothy which brought to mind those heated kisses they'd shared just a few days earlier and the unresolved tension the two of them felt around one another. "Aye'd ashk jou iffn da shcarecrow gotted hish brain but aye've alreddy met Trayz and knows he dinnit."

"The stolen Taurus suits," Treize mused as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Who modified the Taurus suits?"

"Lodda pea… pee… peepoles."

"Who created the security and defensive systems for the Star Suits?"

Harry bit his tongue intentionally to keep himself from answering and rolled his eyes up to the back of his head in the hopes that he'd pass out to escape the rest of the questioning but escape was not to be had as Quinze leaned across the table and slapped him out of it before snapping his fingers. Immediately after that two new floods of burning ice shot through Harry's arm while an armless hand shoved a wad of gauze into his mouth to prevent him from downing on his own blood.

A sharp pain in the side of his neck had him trying to jerk his head to one side without any luck as clarity suddenly returned to him and he immediately realized that one of the drugs he'd just been given would prevent him from passing out. The other two must have been yet another dose of the truth serum and the paralyzing agent since the dizziness swept over him once more only a minute later and his body was once more beyond his control. The gauze was removed from his mouth shortly after that and Harry's tongue throbbed where he'd bitten it and he nearly gagged on the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.

"Who created the security and defensive systems for the Star Suits?"

"Nnn… nnnoo…" Harry forced out with difficulty.

A picture of the Sanc Kingdom was held up in front of Harry at that point and Quinze smiled sadistically as he stated, "You will answer the question or I will drop a nuclear warhead on the Peacecraft's royal palace. Any further attempts to avoid answering our questions will carry the same result. Now, who created the security and defensive systems for the Star Suits?"

"Aye deed," Harry hissed as his stomach churned sharply over the threat and his inability to risk calling the man's bluff since he didn't think the man had it in him to bluff.

"How?"

"Wif magic."

"I'm going to ask you again and I want the truth this time; how did you create the security and defensive systems for the Star Suits?"

"Wif magic… inna blud," Harry rasped out as he closed his eyes, his body seeming to sag wearily even though he couldn't move.

"Captain, ready the missiles…" Quinze began to order only for Treize to stop him.

"Wait," Treize murmured as he leaned forward. "Magic in whose blood?"

Harry opened his eyes, the mismatched blue and green boring into Treize's ice blue eyes with undisguised torment as Harry muttered a single word, "Mine."

"You can't seriously tell me that you believe that tripe about magic?" Quinze demanded as he spun to glare at Treize.

"It would explain so much… if he believes his Newtype ability to be magic, then it stands to reason he'd believe that he could actually perform magic and we already know he has some control over fire and snakes. Do you have everything you need to implement our plan or do you need the rest of your questions answered? If we keep him under the curare much longer we might end up killing him regardless of his body's ability to filter the poison from his system."

"Ask him about the Zero system interface and whatever else you think might be helpful. I can't stomach the little monster any longer; come find me when you're finished."

"Aye'm a monshter but jour da bashdards freatening to blow up da earff."

Quinze sneered at Harry but didn't respond as he climbed to his feet and stalked from the room. Harry would have called out a parting shot but found his attention brought back to Treize as the twenty-six year old addressed Harry.

"I've seen what you can do and there is no denying you are a true monster."

Harry snorted but the disdain he was trying to express was lost somewhere between the effects of the truth serum and the paralyzing agent. He was more concerned about what else Treize was going to ask him because any information regarding the Zero interface could potentially open an entirely new can of worms. He was therefore caught off guard when the man continued with an earlier line of questioning first.

"How much blood does it take to protect a single suit?"

"Differnt fur eech won."

"How much did it take to secure Wing Zero?"

"Doan amember… mebbe too pieant?"

"How does the blood protect the suit and where must it be placed?"

"Inna hart… blud go inna hart."

"In the heart? Where is the heart of a suit?"

"Whare jou fry."

"Where you fly…? The cockpit?"

"Yesh. Payent da hart wif blud," Harry agreed even as he cursed his loose tongue for talking. At least he hadn't been any more specific and he hadn't mentioned any of the runes needed to activate the blood but still; that information could be dangerous in the wrong hands (like White Fang's). He was almost thankful when Treize moved onto a line of questioning he had been prepared to fight against.

"How is it you have managed to avoid being driven insane by the Zero interface when every other pilot to fly the suit before you succumbed within twenty minutes of activating the system?"

"Aye'm alreddy inshane," Harry replied with solemn sincerity that was in no way feigned.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," Treize muttered distastefully. "What does the Zero interface show you when it is activated?"

"Wuffies… we howl da hunt t'gther," Harry slurred out before he gave a rather realistic howl that raised the hairs on the back of the necks of those who heard him; it started low and rose in pitch before dropping back down and cutting off. It quite clearly wasn't the lonesome cry of a wolf looking for companionship but the hungered cry of an alpha wolf calling to the rest of the pack as he spotted their next meal and his eyes began glowing red and gold as he pulled on his connection to Wolfstar.

"I'm finished; there is nothing more we'll learn from him now. Knock him out before he manages to break free from the drugs completely," Treize ordered as he rose to his feet, his eyes locking onto Harry's once more as he added, "I hope you burn in hell like the demon you are for killing Lady Une."

"Is that what this is about?" Harry asked in a far clearer voice as the excess magic flowing through him from his active his connection to Zero began clearing the drugs from his blood far more efficiently. "You sold your soul to the ones that would see the Earth destroyed simply because you were too full of pride to ask Zechs what had happened to your whore?"

Treize back handed Harry hard across the face as he loomed over the restrained mage and hissed, "She was worth ten times more than any other woman in the world and I'll not have you disrespecting her memory. And never again mention that traitor's name in my presence."

"She is a cold hearted bitch that sanctioned the brutal raping of a child on your orders," Harry spat back as he jerked forward against his bindings while ignoring the pain of his muscles spasming as the paralyzing poison was leached from his system. "She'd have willingly murdered millions of innocents just to capture one of the Gundams and even that would not have quenched her bloodlust. Despite that the evil bitch is still well and truly alive. And why do you call Zechs a traitor? Because he opened his eyes and saw that what OZ was doing was wrong? At least he isn't trying to destroy an entire world out of some misguided sense of revenge!"

"You lie!"

"No… I don't and you know it," Harry shot back as he jerked against the bindings a second time. "One word of advice Treize; find a way to stop Quinze before he attacks the Earth or you'll be helping him to murder your precious Une. I could have left her to her well deserved desserts but unlike you people; I'm not in the habit of leaving defenseless people to die. Don't believe me? Contact Zechs and ask him yourself or better yet, call my brother, Quatre Winner and ask him about Une."

Anything else Harry might have added as lost as he was once again knocked out with a strategically placed knot on the back of his head. He was really beginning to get tired of having his head pounded on by heavy handed imbeciles and thanked Merlin that he'd inherited a hard head from one or both of his parents otherwise his brain would have been turned to mush already. Cursing over how much information they'd managed to drag out of him, Harry once more traced his connection with Wolfstar so he could inform his brothers of the most recent developments.

* * *

**Notes:**

Sodium pentothal – truth serum also known as sodium thiopental

Curare – is the common name for the arrow poison that comes out of South America which is known to cause paralysis

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**AN:** _I thought I'd toss this chapter up early to make up for the long wait for the previous chapter; after this you can expect no more than one chapter a week being posted to this fic…_

_The only remark that I'd like to make about this chapter was that it was full of important information on the way a magical core functions in Banished Destiny's universe. I was also setting up the stage for the confrontation with White Fang and dealing with one of the major threats still active within the universe. It was also a chapter that shows that Harry is still the ultimate Gryffindor as he continuously sacrifices himself for others and runs headlong into the fray in order to protect his family. _

_Anyway, thank you all again for your patience and for your wonderful reviews (I'm ignoring the unpleasant reviews; as far as I'm concerned the heat from the flames is paltry when compared the temperatures of the desert I live in and therefore not worth my time). I know that I've not replied to any reviews in ages but that doesn't mean that I haven't appreciated receiving them. There's a plate of donuts in the lounge (courtesy of Gizzy the house elf); feel free to help yourself. =)_

_Expect the next update on Monday or Tuesday of next week. ~ Jenn_


	44. A Battle for Dominance

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter 43: A Battle for Dominance

"I protected what information I could but it was impossible to fight the damn drug completely," Harry reported as he sat looking over his shoulder with his back to the window that led to the monitor where Heero and Wufei watched him with concern; dejection and shame radiating from his wolfish body. "I… they were targeting the Sanc Kingdom so I couldn't just not answer; I tried. Might be best to evacuate at least the capital city and send Princess Relena into hiding until this is over… You can bring her to Hogwarts; it would be the safest place for her. You don't even have to worry about having her sign the usual contract for now."

"Stop beating yourself up about it; there was no way you could have known that they would figure out a way to counteract your ability to filter poisons and chemical based drugs out of your system," Wufei ordered gently as he frowned down at the short list of drug names and symptoms Harry had given him. "What information was it they seemed to be after?"

Harry hunched his shoulders lower and plastered his ears flat against his skull as he whined piteously for a moment before uttering softly in reply, "They asked me a bunch of questions about myself that I was able to provide some misdirection for but what they really wanted to know was how the defenses for the Star Suits work and they tried to get more information about how I was protected from the Zero interface."

Heero sucked in a sharp breath and Harry dropped down onto his belly and covered his head with his paws, his entire body trembling as he waited for the expected angry accusations he was certain the two teens were going to level at him. When it didn't come, Harry slowly lifted one paw and canted his head around to find Heero holding the bridge of his nose and Wufei gripping Heero's other wrist.

"I'm certain that you didn't give them everything they wanted even if you were forced to give them something, tell us what you were forced to give up and we can go from there," Wufei encouraged while exerting pressure on Heero's arm to keep the other teen silent.

Instead of answering, Harry looked off to one side and a mirror popped into existence beside him and began playing the portion of his memory of the interrogation; his connection to Wolfstar allowing him to play the memories like a pensive while he was inside of Wolfstar's consciousness. His insulting dig about Treize lacking a brain made both Wufei and Heero snort before they blanched at the part where Harry had bit his tongue to avoid answering the question.

They shared a grim look when the Sanc Kingdom was threatened and Heero actually growled when Quinze started ordering the attack to proceed until Treize stepped in. Treize's reasoning for believing in Harry's magic dispelled some of the growing tension but it didn't last long as they reached the part where Treize delved further into the subject of the blood wards (not that Treize knew that).

Heero choked again when Harry told Treize it was his insanity that protected him from the Zero interface and both teens shivered as they too listened to Harry's eerie howl. Heero cursed and swore to dismember Treize slowly and painfully when they reached the part where the older man back handed Harry across the face for insulting Une. When it was over, the mirror vanished back into Harry's mindscape as he lay down and waited for his brothers to say something.

"You know that howl was creepy right?" Heero asked as a shiver ran down his back.

"It was meant to be… I wanted them to know that they'd cornered a wild beast and while they might have had me at their mercy it didn't mean that they'd tamed me. If I had known that pulling on Zero's connection would have sped up the removal of the drugs in my blood I would have opened it up sooner but it wasn't until I wished to establish the dubiousness of my sanity that I thought to tap into our connection."

"You never once mentioned the runes or that the blood had to be painted over the entirety of the suit in order for the protections to work," Wufei pointed out. "That means anything they try is doomed to fail, yes?"

"Theoretically, yes," Harry replied after giving the question a bit of thought. "It also means that if they drop two pints of blood in the cockpit and my magic lights it up it could blow whatever suit they were trying to ward sky high."

"That would be a good thing, right?" Heero asked.

"Depends on who is sitting in the cockpit at the time."

"Is there anything else you found out?"

"No… and I only have about ninety-four hours to figure a way out of this mess. I'm half tempted to swear an oath to never again leave Crystal Valley if I live through this," Harry muttered as he turned to nip at his hindquarters as if looking for a flea.

"Here, here," Heero mock cheered in agreement.

Harry sneezed and snorted at the same time as he looked up from where he'd been nosing through his fur. He then sighed and shook his head as he dropped his eyes to the ground and scraped at the simulated grass of the computer's environment with his paw for a moment.

"Taliesin?"

"I hate second guessing myself, Heero," Harry muttered as he ducked his head lower while tilting it to one side as he looked up and out at the blue eyed teen. "I thought I understood what Obduro meant when he said '_Should the wolf walk willingly into the hunters trap then the stars shall give rise to the guardian's ire and the huntsman and his hounds shall fall beneath the rabbit's shadow_.' There was also the reference to Mars burning that alluded to the start of a hundred year war if I tried to fight my way out of this; since Mars is often brighter during times of war and conflict. Something that has held true throughout my lifetime."

"What made you believe that you were the wolf he was referring to?" Wufei inquired.

"My connection to Wolfstar; I still don't understand the reference to the guardian's ire but the huntsman has to be White Fang because they were hunting me."

"Are you certain you didn't mix up the references and that the wolf was actually White Fang because it invokes the image of a wolf or a dog with their teeth barred and that you were the hunter instead?"

"No… because I was not hunting them, they were hunting me and their hounds are most likely their soldiers and their suits. There's also the fact that I willingly walked into their trap; not the other way around. Not certain what the rabbit's shadow is though."

"The moon; the rabbit's shadow refers to an old Japanese folktale about the man in the moon and how he sought to find which of three animals were the kindest. The tale goes on to say that when the rabbit couldn't find any food to offer the old beggar, who was the man in the moon in disguise, he offered up himself but before he could cook himself over the fire the man in the moon saved him and took him to the moon to live with him. So I imagine whoever it is that will fall will fall out in space beneath the shadow of the moon or maybe in the light of the moon."

"That makes sense since they did bring me out to space."

"About the whole taking off at the drop of the hat… why didn't you at least talk to us about what you planned before you left like you did? Why did you seek out the centaur instead of talking to us?" Heero demanded softly as he frowned at Harry.

"I knew that the five of you would council me to fight and avoid giving into their demands," Harry replied as he once again lay down on his belly and propped his chin on his paws as he stared off at something only he could see. "I sought out Obduro because centaurs are seers and prophets in the magical world (though few humans from the wizarding world of my time would have acknowledged them as such) and I've come to respect him and his knowledge over the past ten months after learning something of centaurian history."

"Divination is an obscure form of magic and while there were a good number of frauds out there looking to make a quick buck there are those who have true talent; the centaurs as a race are just one example. I witnessed a witch giving a prophecy once and later took part in the series of events that set it in motion and a year later in the fulfillment of the same prophecy and you've all seen the end results from that prophecy running its course first hand; I'm trying to repair the extensive damage that was done."

Harry sighed as his ears swiveled back and forth as a faint sound reached him. Climbing to his feet he shook himself before he glanced out at his brothers and stated, "I have to go; I've been here too long. Please warn Zechs and Quatre that Treize might contact one of them in regards to Une."

"Taliesin…? Be careful out there, won't you?"

Harry glanced over his shoulder at his brothers before he nodded once and retuned to his mindscape. He was only there for a split second before he was pulled into consciousness by the feel of hands pulling at his bound wings. He opened his eyes to find two strange soldiers, both dressed similarly to the one he'd seen earlier, attempting to dress him in a rather snug fitting spacesuit. His wings were presenting a problem though and one of the two rather young men was getting rather annoyed.

"I say we just cut them off."

"Colonel Khushrenada specifically said that we're not to harm him."

"So? No one would know we cut them off if his back is covered; they'll think he has a way of hiding them like when they first picked him up from the Earth Sphere."

"And how would you explain all of the blood and the severed wings? It's not like we could just tuck them in a corner and pretend they don't exist."

"Well what the hell else are we supposed to do? Colonel Khushrenada specifically told us that we were to get him into a spacesuit and we can't do that unless those abominations are removed!"

"Touch my wings again and I will gut you where you stand with my bare hands," Harry growled menacingly making both soldiers jump in shock as they dropped him as if they'd been burned; neither one of them having been aware that Harry had woken up as they worked. He sneered at them when they pulled their guns from their holsters and they flinched as his eyes flashed red and gold for an instant.

"D…don't m…move!" the one who had wanted to remove his wings ordered as his hands visibly shook.

"Boo!" Harry barked as he stretched his unrestrained hands (the soldiers having removed the cuffs on both his ankles and wrists in order to dress him in the spacesuit) out towards the two men.

Both men (who couldn't have been much older than eighteen, if that) screamed and fired off several wild shots at Harry before they fled the room in fear. Harry ducked down to avoid the majority of the bullets but he wasn't quite quick enough to avoid them all and he hissed in pain as three or four bullets tore through his right wing and two more caught him low on his left side. A brief inspection of the wounds let him know that all of the bullets had thankfully passed cleanly through without hitting bone or anything vital.

A quick glance around the room he was being held in turned up no hiding places that he could exploit (not even a cot) and he huffed again in annoyance because he didn't want to reveal either his wand or his trunks to whoever was watching the security cameras. After a moment's contemplation, Harry asked Wolfstar to override the cameras in the room for a short while as he used his wand to clean and bandage the two wounds on his side before cleaning out the ones on his wing while wishing he could bandage those ones as well. The low powered numbing spells he cast on the wounds a moment later helped cut the lingering ache and allowed him to think of his next step.

He checked in with Wolfstar and made certain the cameras were still under the suit's control before he ducked into his supply trunk for a couple of much needed healing potions. He then turned to his next pressing need; protecting his wings. He was about to start removing the tape in order to relieve the pain of having them bound only for an urgent message from Wolfstar still his hands; soldiers were coming for him. Cursing their timing, Harry stripped the rest of the way out of the space suit the two soldiers from earlier had been trying to stuff him into and nearly tossed it aside only to hesitate when he realized that if he wore his own clothes they'd only strip them from him again.

To avoid that he could use the spacesuit they'd so kindly provided him but he'd have to work fast in order to get it done because Wolfstar wouldn't be able to keep the soldiers out of his room for long. Knowing he didn't have much time, Harry used the blood from his gunshot wounds to ward the suit against his magic as he trotted up the stairs leading back to his prison cell. Once he was out of his trunk, he quickly repaired the bullet holes before he applied the spells to create the wing pocket in the back of the suit; both the blood ward and the spells flowing from his hand and wand naturally after having used them on a near constant basis for the past year and a half.

He barely finished the last spell when Wolfstar warned him that the people heading in his direction were nearly to his door and Harry scrambled to return his necklace of trunks to his neck and tuck away his wand as Wolfstar released the cameras. Less than half a minute later, the door to his cell opened and ten soldiers poured into the room. The cocking of several pistols and rifles had Harry lifting his hands into the air, the spacesuit now dangling from his left hand, in a show of surrender.

Hovering just outside of the cell door, Harry could see the pale faces of the two teens he'd scared and he couldn't quite suppress the smirk that flashed across his face as he had them to thank for giving him the time and the means to protect his wings. Though they were also responsible for his latest wounds and Harry hated being shot more than anything else but at least they'd been using bullets and not beam technology.

"Our orders are to make certain you live long enough to be of use in Quinze's plan but that won't stop us from pumping you full of lead if you make one wrong move," one older soldier with a mutton chop beard growled as he stepped cautiously forward.

"The two imbecilic insects standing just outside the door already added a little iron to my diet; in case the blood streaking my body and dripping on the floor wasn't telling. I'd much rather avoid another serving though. So, as long as you aren't going to threaten to cut my wings off like the cowardly piece of chizpurfle crap behind you; we won't have a problem," Harry replied as he let his eyes lock with the one that had considered mutilating him. "You see I've grown quite partial to my wings and I'm not a big fan of pain or mutilation. So, you stay away from my wings and refrain from causing me any additional permanent bodily harm and I'll be a good little prisoner."

"That so, eh?"

"Scout's honor," Harry promised as he dropped his right hand to cross his heart and he found himself having to hold back his laughter as a confused look passed over the man's face while wondering if Boy Scouts even existed any more in this day and age. Sighing, Harry explained, "I was giving you my word; you know… making a promise?"

"Alright… those two numbskulls were supposed to have dressed you in that suit you're holding; seems you interrupted them," the man stated as he lowered his gun just a touch.

"Like I said earlier; one of them was growing insistent about cutting off my wings because they were in the way. If they'd had any manners and simply asked; I could have dealt with them for them."

"Yeah… well just put the suit on."

Harry shrugged and dropped his hands to comply, swaying slightly due to the minor blood loss and mild pain from his injuries in combination with the effects of the healing potions he'd taken to deal with the bulk of the damage. It still didn't take him long to step back into the suit though and as he pulled it up over his still bound wings without any problems, Harry couldn't help but flick his gaze up to find the two soldiers that been trying to put the suit on him earlier gawking in disbelief over the fact that his wings presented no trouble and seemed to simply fade out of sight.

He smirked at them as he pulled the zipper up into place and sealed the Velcro flap that protected the zipper. Dressed, Harry held his hands out to his side as he glanced at Officer Muttonchops (the name Harry mentally assigned the soldier he'd made the deal with just now) and spun around once. Harry then turned his back to the man, placed his hands behind his back, and glanced over his shoulder.

"I suppose this is where you cuff me once more, no?"

The man dumbly nodded before he signaled to one of the unranked soldiers and the man rushed forward after a moment's hesitation to secure Harry's wrists together. Harry let his shoulders slump once it was done before he spun around on his heel to see what would happen next; hoping and praying they wouldn't be beaning him in the head yet another time. He really needed time to figure out his next move and while he could still think while in his mindscape he couldn't _do_ anything while trapped in his mind and all of his plans and plots _required_ action.

"I'd like to trust you, kid, I really would," Officer Muttonchops declared sadly as he met Harry's gaze. "I have orders I'm obligated to follow though."

Harry knew what was coming even before it happened as the man signaled to yet another soldier. He should have known his promise would mean nothing to anyone though the man had at least been honest with him and hadn't forced him to tolerate the soldiers dressing him. He was going to have to talk to Trowa about the possibilities of permanent brain damage from all of the blows he'd been taking to the back of the head though. He kicked at a stone beneath his feet in his mindscape as he wondered just what it was they planned to do with him and why they'd taken Wolfstar if they weren't actually even trying to pilot him or break him apart in an effort to uncover any secrets Harry hadn't revealed (which were numerous).

With nothing to do and not wanting to risk his soul being permanently separated from his body due to spending too much time outside of it, Harry headed for the only tree in his mindscape; a rather large and dead willow tree that stood some distance away from the house of mirrors that held Harry's memories and core. The tree was meant to represent his old life; a way for him to acknowledge and accept that he was no longer the boy he had been when he'd first shown up in the future four years earlier. He also knew that who he was before was still a small part of who he was now, so he felt it appropriate to create the tree as a memorial of sorts.

It was also designed to throw off any one who attacked his mind as it seemed so much a part of the mist covered desolate landscape that one would immediately expect it to house Harry's memories or maybe represent his magical core. It didn't but misdirection was a large part of a successful mind defense and Harry's was all smoke and mirrors as even the House of Mirrors that housed his memories appeared broken and run down unless you managed to make it passed the nightmares that haunted the outer maze and reached Harry's true self inside.

Climbing up into the branches of the tree, Harry curled up into the fork near the top and stared out over his inner mind, occasionally using his growing control over his mindscape to repair or enhance various portions of his defense as he allowed his thoughts to wander. A brief message from his brothers, routed through his connection to Wolfstar, let him know that the U.P.F (Universal Police Force) had successfully evacuated the Sanc Kingdom thanks to his warning and he relaxed just a touch more. He sensed more than felt Zero curl up near the trunk and reflected for a moment on how the connection to Wolfstar was looking more and more wolf-like and less transformed suit-like as time went by.

He shoved that thought to the back of his mind as he spent a few minutes digging through the information that Wolfstar had been collecting from the White Fang's network but most of it was just an endless jumble of technological jargon that he didn't have enough patience to sort through at the moment. Frustrated, he had Wolfstar shunt everything to the computers in the Command Center trunk (which had been left behind at Hogwarts) so his squad could dig through it for any important information; knowing at least one of them would be working in the Command Center.

Half sighing and half growling in frustration, he stared up at the inky sky of his mindscape and watched the slow endless migration of the stars across the sky. A brief smile curled his lips as he watched the Dog Star for a moment, his thoughts settling on his godfather as he once more wondered if Sirius would be proud of him. Thoughts of Sirius were just morphing into thoughts of his parents when he felt his body tugging on his senses and he turned to wake up and found himself strapped down to a table with his left arm removed from the spacesuit.

Attached to his left arm was what he thought at first was nothing more than a simple IV until he got a closer look and noticed that the tubing was filled with blood and there was a half filled bag of blood attached to the line; they were collecting his blood. Harry blanched as he hadn't expected them to draw his blood and he struggled briefly until Quinze stepped into his line of sight. The contemplative look on the old man's face made a knot of ice form in Harry's stomach as it told him that he really wasn't going to like whatever it was that this man had planned for him.

"I don't know how you managed to get around the truth serum but then I am aware of the flaws inherent in the drug and realize that if you believed enough in your lies the words you spoke while under the influence of the drug would be truths as far as you were concerned. You've cost me far too much ever since you crawled out of the woodwork like the little termite you are two years ago and I'm going to see to it that no one ever sees you as anything but a demon by the time I am finished with you and have you put down like the rabid dog you are."

"Better men than you have tried; you desiccated scrotum from the diseased crotch of a retarded mountain troll."

"I wonder how willing you will be to spout insults after the Sanc Kingdom as been wiped from the face of the earth due to your earlier lies," Quinze spat back.

"Go ahead… as of six hours ago the entire nation has been evacuated and buildings can be rebuilt," Harry replied with a shrug of his shoulders as he dropped his eyes back to the thin line of reddish-purple trailing away from him and he willed the small traces of his magic in his blood to pull away from the needle as he had no wish to power anything for these people.

"Oh I sincerely doubt that; who could have possibly warned them? And even if someone did warn them, who could have possibly passed along such a message to you when you've been unconscious all of this time?"

"Are you certain about that? After all, security cameras are rather easily compromised."

The scowl on Quinze's face let Harry know that the man was already running through a list of people under his command who would have both the knowledge and the access to pull such a deception which in turn told Harry that the man had already stumbled upon some dissension within his ranks. Harry smiled a small, secretive smile as he settled back and closed his eyes; he'd done his duty and pulled an unpleasant prank on an unpleasant man for the moment. Now, if he could just reverse the flow of blood being drawn from his arm and put it back into his body where it belonged, so that they wouldn't have any to use on whatever suit they were planning to attempt to protect.

"We'll see if you are singing the same tune in twenty-four hours," Quinze growled before he turned to the nurse overseeing the bloodletting they were doing. "How much have you collected from him so far?"

"Two and a half pints, sir."

Harry tried not to show his alarm over the amount that they were drawing because he knew he'd told Treize two pints was all that was needed and they'd already gone over that. He must have failed to completely hide his distress though as Quinze patted him gently on the side of the face with mock grandfatherly concern.

"Do not worry, demon; I won't allow them to bleed you dry. I need my little demon alive and strong enough to play his part after all. Two pints of blood isn't anywhere near enough to paint an entire suit in your blood though and I seriously doubt that spilling a paltry amount of blood _inside_ of a suit would protect the outside. I also realize that it would be impractical to paint _every_ inch of a mobile suit no matter how small it is so I am guessing that there is a trick to it. Based upon the designs on the original Star Suits and the schematics of the Epyon I've calculated that at least a gallon would be needed to paint the suit enough to satisfy any barbaric ritualistic conditions needed to make it the protections work; not that I believe for one minute that any amount of blood can make a state of the art machine invincible."

Harry's eyes flashed open in shock and fear over that declaration and his blood ran cold as he struggled against his restraints. He had heard about the Epyon from Trowa and Heero the night that they'd told them about White Fang's demands. There was no way in hell he could allow _that_ abomination to gain even a single iota of magical protection; it would be unstoppable.

"Oh, now this is a beautiful sight," Quinze declared as he smiled appreciatively down at Harry, his hand petting Harry's face with mock tenderness; his touch making Harry sick to his stomach as he violently flinched. "So, even a demon can feel true fear. Vengeance and glory shall be mine; I can already taste my victory. You, my little foul-mouthed demon are going to help me bring in a brand new era where the Colonies will truly shine as they move out from beneath the cruel and restricting shadow of the corrupted Earth. Tragically, you will not survive once you've done your part but don't worry, your name shall live on in infamy as the new boogieman; the Demon of the Stars, the evil that stalks the stars forever hunting down the impure so that he can drag them back to hell with them to burn for all eternity."

This time there was no need for a not-so-gentle tap on the back of the head to send Harry fleeing into his mindscape. Once inside of his mind, Harry dropped to his hands and knees and mentally vomited as the disgust and horror of what Quinze proposed wrapped icy cold hands around his heart. A slightly menacing growl off to one side brought Harry up short as he glanced up to find Zero watching him with hunger and glee and Harry swallowed thickly as he hissed out a command to his mind to cage the link to the sentient suit least it attempt to initiate a power struggle due to his fear and panic. The last thing he needed right now was Wolfstar looking to overthrow his mind. Zero caged, Harry shoved his panic to the back of his mind and dove into his connection with Wolfstar, his paws thundering as he raced down the connection seeking solace and support from the one place he knew he could find it; from his brothers.

"Heero? Trowa? Wufei?" Harry barked out with a near hysteric edge to his voice as he jumped up to paw at the window that was the monitor of the computer he'd been visiting since he'd been taken. "Guys!? Please… are any of you there!? _**Heero**__!?_"

"Taliesin? Is that you?"

"Dorothy, please; where are my brothers? I need to speak with them _**now**_."

"They're not here, they left a couple of hours ago for an urgent meeting that Quatre called," Dorothy explained as she finally moved into Harry's line of sight.

"Merlin's fungi infested…" Harry cursed with a wolfish whine as he glanced behind him down the various tunnels and lines that led to the other laptops that Wolfstar was directly connected to. "I don't have enough fucking time to hunt them down. I _need_ them _now_."

He dropped down and growled as he swung his head between the various avenues open to him (that only he could see) and let out a snarl of frustration that ended with another whine. He then dropped his nose to the ground and tried to sniff out any clues as to which path would have the greatest chance of getting him where he needed to go.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Like open a line of communication to them so you can conference with them on this laptop instead of trying to hunt them down on another?"

Harry froze and snapped his head back over his shoulder to find Dorothy watching him with earnest concern and he nodded slowly as he turned his body around and walked back up to the screen as she sat down in front of the laptop and began typing away. As several windows popped open, Harry shifted over to one side so he wouldn't be in the way and turned his head to the side so that he could stare at the windows intensely as his entire body thrummed with nervous tension and barely suppressed panic. He'd just caught a flash of what he thought was Quatre's blonde hair when he felt his hackles rise as hot breath washed over his back and a menacing growl shook him to his very core.

Snapping his head up and back, Harry found a highly aggressive Wolfstar (who stood three times larger than him in his current avatar) standing threateningly over him. Rage (more than half of it self directed for allowing the sentient suit to pick up on his panic) filled Harry and he didn't hesitate to attack the larger wolf. What followed was a rather brutal and bloody, if short, fight between the two wolves as Harry fought to maintain leadership and Wolfstar (or rather the remnants of the Zero System) sought to displace him. Harry's only advantage in the fight against the larger, heavier wolf (aside from his ability to think outside of a rigid set programming – such as the programming that made up Wolfstar's consciousness) was his magic and he didn't hesitate to use it to beat Wolfstar into submission.

When the fight was over, Wolfstar (still three times larger than Harry) groveled and abased himself beneath Harry as Harry's wolf form clamped tightly down on Wolfstar's jugular. Harry was growling in fury as he bit slightly deeper, insuring that Wolfstar knew he'd not tolerate another such attempt from the suit when a voice cut through his rage.

"Taliesin, what the hell is going on?"

Dropping his hold on Wolfstar, Harry shrank the wolf with a thought, turning the former intimidating giant into a helpless pup just learning to walk (his latest victory giving him far more control over the suit than he'd had since he'd first given the suit a semblance of life). Wolfstar whined in protest and a furious snarl from Harry shut the puppy up as he slunk just a few feet away and curled up whimpering.

Seeing that the suit would offer no further trouble, Harry dropped down to his belly and licked his shoulder where Wolfstar had sliced his avatar open to the bone before he swung around to face the windows holding far more people than he would have expected. A number of people took a step backwards as Harry's eyes glowed with pure magic, making the green and blue of his mismatched eyes stand out vividly; his connection to Zero completely subdued for the moment.

"White Fang is attempting to ward the Epyon…" Harry rasped; the pain of the phantom wounds inflicted on his soul by Wolfstar during their battle thick in his voice. "He figured out that I lied… both about how much blood is needed and where the blood needs to be placed in order to effectively ward the suit. He still doesn't know about the runes or the spells but… he's… he's got me strapped to a table right now and they're in the process of drawing off at least a gallon of blood from me now. I've pulled as much of my magic from my blood as I can but I wasn't able to stop them from taking my blood and their doing so fulfills the sacrificial requirements of using blood magic (which in this case is forced) so I don't know what complications that will create."

Heero spat out a string of curses while his other four brothers and the Maganacs present all paled. Those who didn't know what Harry was talking about only glanced at the others in confusion though. It was Zechs, who was now standing over Dorothy's shoulder with Relena and Noin at his side who found his voice first, "What exactly are you talking about? What does your blood have to do with any of the protective wards on the suits?"

Harry stopped nursing his wounds for a moment as he glanced around at the various open windows before he sighed and wearily placed his head on the ground beside his paws so he could watch the shivering ball of fur that was the puppyized Wolfstar. After a moment he closed his eyes and began explaining for those who hadn't previously known how Harry and the others protected the suits and other various equipment, "Magic is a very potent form of energy that tends to disrupt all other forms of energy; meaning that magic and technology are incompatible. That's how I disabled the mobile suits, mobile dolls, power grids, and hundreds of other devices. A ward is a protective scheme made up of runes or spells or some combination of the two that protects an object or an area from nature, foreign magic, or people depending on what is used or cast."

Harry paused and growled a warning as he felt a trembling body press up against him and the pitiful whimper Wolfstar let out had Harry relenting after a moment as he picked the wolfling up in his teeth and deposited him between his forelegs where he promptly curled up against Harry's chest. Huffing, Harry nuzzled the wounded pup a moment before he picked up his explanation once more.

"Wards can be used to shield technology from magic but the more complex the technology the more complex the runes have to be in order to account for all of the little systems and stuff going on. Runes aren't flexible enough to do so for any technology more sophisticated than a cell phone or a stereo radio though and spells would fry the systems because the magic would interfere with the circuitry. The only way around those two difficulties is to give the runes a measure of sentience and to do that you add blood; specifically a wizard's blood. Each and every suit I have warded has been carved over with complex runes that were then painted over in blood that I willingly sacrificed to power the magic. On top of those I cast hundreds of spells to weave together the protections that make the Star Suits and others seemingly invincible."

"Blood? You painted over thirty mobile suits with your blood?" Zechs asked in a dangerously soft voice before he suddenly blanched in realization. "Your hand… you said you'd cut it when you were preparing… you literally cut it to draw the blood, didn't you? That was why you looked so sick and pale!"

"Yes," Harry sighed as he nosed Wolfstar a second time. "Three and a half quarts over two days using potions in order to replenish what I took. You have to understand, blood wards require sacrifice in order to work and in each case it was a willing sacrifice I provided. This time it is an unwilling sacrifice and they aren't aware of the runes needed to anchor the wards so I have no idea if it will work or not."

"What usually happens when a ward doesn't work?" Dorothy asked in a small voice.

"It explodes… violently," Heero deadpanned as he locked eyes with the wizard as Harry ran his tongue over the long cut that ran from Wolfstar's nose, over his left eye, and up to his left ear where the sentient suit's avatar was now missing a 'V' shaped notch.

"And the reason for the battle royale we were treated to upon arrival?" Trowa inquired with concern.

"Do you remember the day you first learned Wolfstar gained a form of sentience due to my magic?" Harry asked instead as he glanced at each of his five brothers and Zechs. When all six of them nodded, Harry answered, "Then I'm certain you'll recall what I said when you asked me if there was a chance that the Zero interface could rebel against my control."

"Ya said he considered ya his alpha but that if he sensed any weakness in ya, then he'd attack ya without mercy," Duo replied as his eyes went wide as saucers. "He just tried ta take control didn't he?"

"Yeah… he sensed my panic and challenged me when I fled into my mindscape but I locked him up and came looking for you thinking the matter dealt with. He must have hunted for me through his consciousness and stalked me until he felt me at my weakest and then he attacked. It was a stupid mistake on my part… but guys… what the hell am I supposed to do!? I can't let them ward that unholy abomination!"

Wolfstar whined as he felt Harry's fear spike once more; the wolf now understanding that Harry's panic was not weakness but the fear of something truly terrifying. Harry cradled the pup closer and tended to the many wounds he'd inflicted on the other wolf during their battle in an effort to both center himself and reassure Wolfstar.

"Let them paint it and then blow it sky high," Wufei suggested. "Wolfstar can carry you safely out of there as well as the Gundam scientists if they are willing to follow you a second time."

"There's no guarantee that it will work," Harry whispered tightly. "Nor is there any guarantee that we'd be able to get free of the explosion because guys… blowing up a suit is a bit more dangerous than just blowing up a few phones and radios. And I'm scared; I don't know exactly what Quinze has planned for me. He keeps talking about some part he's going to make me play and it frightens me. He… whatever he's going to do is going to happen in just under twenty-four hours."

Behind Harry, a mirror slipped into view to allow his memory of what just happened to send Harry into a panic to play out for the others as he buried his nose in Wolfstar's belly while the pup clumsily licked his muzzle. Harry's ears pressed back flat against his skull as the memory reached the part where Quinze had been stroking his face and almost cooing to him. He gave a long whine when it was over and shivered all over before he glanced back up to see dozens of concerned eyes watching him. His nose felt hot and he quickly turned to lick at his wounded shoulder in order to hide his emotions until he was no longer in danger of whining pathetically.

"Go get some rest for the moment, Taliesin," Trowa suggested softly. "Give us a chance to discuss the new information you brought us and we'll meet you back here in fifteen hours. Hopefully, you'll have found out more by then and we'll have put together a tentative plan to destroy the suit and bring you home safe."

Harry nodded hesitantly after a minute before climbing weakly to his feet, his body (or rather his soul) aching as his wounds flared painfully as a result of the movement. He sat down a moment and panted even as his body shook from the pain before he lifted his nose to the air and sang out in pain, frustration, and fright; warning the world that evil walked the stars that night. Wolfstar's little pup voice joined his a moment later and Harry's voice changed subtly as his voice grew hard and angry before his song ended on a triumphant note proclaiming his status as an alpha. When it was over, Harry grabbed Wolfstar by the nape of his neck and the two of them disappeared into Harry's mindscape to recover.

Harry and Wolfstar appeared in his mindscape, unknowingly keeping his wolfish avatar for the first time ever inside of his own mind as he appeared with the suit's avatar still cradled in his jaw. A glance at the caged Zero had the not quite mechanical wolf that had represented Harry's connection to the sentient suit vanishing in a swirl of mist that merged with the pup firmly held in his mouth. No longer worried about Wolfstar's alter ego attempting a second coup, Harry headed into his House of Mirrors and made his way to the center pausing only once to study his reflection in one of the many mirrors inside of his mind that housed his memories.

He decided he didn't mind his new avatar, having grown used to the powerful wolf with russet-black fur after the handful of times he'd spent in the form while inside of Wolfstar's consciousness; he did, however, add his wings to the form since they had become a large part of who he was. Once he reached the heart of his inner mind, Harry dropped down onto the soft patch of grass he grew for a bed with a mere thought and curled up around Wolfstar, his right wing blanketing the pup. He took a moment to set his internal clock to remind himself to wake up in time to meet with his brothers as asked before he closed his eyes and let his mind drift in a sort of half sleep that wasn't quite restful.

* * *

**AN:** _Yet another busy chapter and yes, I know I'm late putting this up. I didn't even realize that it was the end of the week until my daughter asked me a question about the date. Anyway, there's just one of thing I want to clarify before I head out: Harry is not unleashing the brute force of his magic to fight back and escape at this point because he did promise that he would not fight if they left the earth alone. He also knows that they aren't going to leave the world alone but until they break the rules he set, he will try to keep his efforts as subtle as possible (and threats don't count). _

_Someone had brought up Harry's magic protecting him on its own (such as against Quirrell or Vernon when they both tried to strangle him) in a review for one of the previous two chapters in response to the soldiers hitting him but I felt it best to point out that Harry's magic doesn't always protect him from being hit (Dudley and his gang used to beat him up when they caught him while playing Harry Hunting, after all, or I doubt they would have kept targeting him). So, no, his magic won't necessarily rush to his rescue just because he's getting hit. _

_Anyway, I plan to toss up the next chapter before the end of the weekend instead of making you wait a full week since I am late with the one. . ~ Jenn_


	45. Fighting Shadows

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out a very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so this time as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am not making any money off of this story or any of the other stories I have written._

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter 44: Fighting Shadows

As the wizard in wolf's clothing vanished from the screen along with Wolfstar, Heero sat back and ran a hand wearily over his face. A glance at the still open window on the screen that held the images of those not sitting in the conference room with him let him know he wasn't the only one who'd been shaken by the latest turn of events. The now seventeen year old pilot had never imagined that his life would turn out quite so complicated when he agreed to pilot the Gundam Wing for Dr. J back when he first met the rather mad scientist shortly after his father died. Two year ago, Heero never would have believed it if anyone told him that he'd find an older little brother that would turn his world upside down and teach him how to laugh again.

"Taliesin's always been such a polite and reserved child… well young adult," Sally slowly stated after several minutes had passed. "And while I knew he was capable of piloting a suit and fighting, I never quite imagined that he…"

"That he was capable of such viciousness?" Wufei finished as he glanced over at the older woman who was their current commanding officer as part of the Universal Police Force.

"I don't think he expected to fight Wolfstar when he came looking for us because if he had, then he never would have allowed any of us to witness it," Trowa pointed out. "That he didn't consider it at all is a measure of exactly how rattled he'd been by Quinze's revelations."

"Taliesin has always been driven by his emotions though he has learned a measure of control over the past two years. However, right now we have more important things that need to be addressed; such as what White Fang hopes to accomplish. We already know that Quinze's goal is to destroy the earth," Heero stated loudly to bring everyone's focus back to the matter at hand instead of dwelling on Taliesin's violent display. "That doesn't really tell us what he wants with Taliesin; aside from the fact that he was looking to equip the Epyon with the same protection that the Star Suits and the Gundams have."

"If he doesn't believe that Taliesin has magic; then what else could he possibly want from him?" Dorothy asked with a puzzled frown as she wrung her hands together without realizing what she was doing. "Based upon everything I have learned since I was brought here, all of his abilities stem from his magic but it sounded as if Quinze doesn't actually believe such a thing exists."

"Personally, I was more than a little creeped out by Quinze's display there at da end," Duo interjected as he shuddered a bit and pulled on his braid. "A giddy old man is not a pretty sight. I especially didn't like da way he kept touchin' Taliesin."

"Did you notice how he constantly referred to Taliesin as a demon?" Quatre noted almost absently as he rubbed at his chest and glanced off to the side of the laptop he was sitting in front of; the empath unfailingly picking up on the rising tension in the room. "The man is completely fixated on that ridiculous title that was given to Taliesin after the Battle for the Moon."

"Epyon!" Heero gasped in sudden understanding as everyone swung to stare at him.

"Treize's suit? What about it?" Zechs asked as he furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Taliesin is one of the most, if not thee most talented pilot there is when it comes to piloting mobile suits, or any aircraft really," Heero explained as he leaned forward. "He can make a suit do things that would destroy the suit or kill the pilot and while part of that has to do with the protective magics he's cast on all of our suits, most of it is him. He'll deny it but we've all seen him pulling off the impossible."

"His reputation as a skilled pilot was well known across all of the Colonies," Relena thoughtfully added. "The Star Pilots were often compared to the Gundam Pilots and I suppose I can understand why now since you were all one in the same. Taliesin's name was often spoken of with hushed reverence by those who agreed with the ideals of the Resistance while it was bandied about with fear and hate by those who sided with OZ. Both sides always agreed that he could do things in a suit that were once thought impossible."

"Don't forget, Taliesin earned the title Demon of the Stars while piloting Wolfstar that first time in part because of the nature of the Wing Zero suit; specifically the Zero Interface System," Wufei stated as he pulled up the information he had on Wing Zero and what was known about the Epyon (which wasn't much) and sent the comparisons to each of the laptops currently linked to the conference. "As you can see, Epyon is rumored to have an interface that was based off of the Zero technology; only it is far more invasive and rumored to have the ability to destroy a pilot's ability to think and reason while under its influence."

"Howard had forwarded me a report from Professor G about the Epyon, shortly after White Fang picked up all five of the Gundam scientists," Duo reminded everyone as he paged through the files Wufei had sent. "That's where most of our information on Treize's Gundam came from and from what Howard told me, Professor G was concerned because of how similar the operating systems of Epyon and Wing Zero were."

Heero nodded and took back control of the conversation as he continued with his explanation, "Under the influence of the Zero Interface reality is replaced with possibility and the system encourages you to seek out your enemies and alters your perception of reality so that you aren't certain whether you can trust what you are seeing; those who tested or piloted the suit prior to Taliesin getting into the pilot's seat know exactly what I'm talking about. In Epyon, there are rumors that the system takes things one step further and actually removes your ability to question reality; forcing you to accept what the system shows you as reality."

"The files that Wolfstar has been feeding us since Taliesin was taken mentioned something about an addition that was added to the Epyon Interface," Patricia interjected hesitantly, the young woman not used to speaking up in front of the others. "In order to get around the issues created by the interface's tendency to take control of the pilot, a fail-safe was built into the program that would allow someone outside of the suit to control the pilot."

"Quinze is going to throw Taliesin in the Epyon and attempt to control him through the interface in order to force him to destroy the Earth," Zechs finished as he immediately saw where Heero had been leading with his explanation.

"That would certainly seem like a logical conclusion based upon what we've learned to date and what we know of White Fang's agenda," Sally admitted as she drummed her fingers on the table.

"The blood wards that Taliesin spoke of earlier… he said there was a chance they could fail," Dorothy slowly stated as she looked between each of the five Gundam pilots. "How would he know? Do they blow up on their own or is there some way to trigger them?"

"The failed wards in the past only became unstable and exploded when exposed to his magic," Trowa answered.

"Does it have to be a large amount of magic or would the tiniest bit set it off?" Dorothy asked as she bit her lip nervously.

"Hard to say, most of his failed wards usually exploded when exposed to a single spell but determining the amount of magic in a single spells is rather hard to do since Taliesin can't always control how much magic he puts into each spell when he casts it."

"And the amount of magic that Taliesin uses unconsciously when he pilots a suit?" Sally asked as she picked up where Dorothy had been heading with her questions.

"In a normal suit I'd say none," Heero answered as he ran a hand through his hair. "In a suit like Epyon? More than enough to trigger a faulty ward. When the Zero Interface attempted to take over his mind he managed to take control of it instead due to something he called Mind Magic; which basically gave him the ability to defend his mind against outside attacks. He said that while he was fighting for control a link was established between him and the suit and during the battle he fought after he took control of the Zero Interface, that link drew on his magic and used it to enhance the suit's performance."

"What are the chances that Quinze will be able to gain control of Taliesin through the Epyon Interface?" Relena inquired after several minutes of silence had passed as they each considered the dire ramifications of a faultily ward being triggered while Taliesin was piloting said suit. "It's obviously been a year since he first encountered the Zero Interface and he's bound to have grown stronger during that time; so how difficult would it be for him to fight the Epyon Interface system the same way he fought Zero? Would the link he continues to share with Zero help or hinder him?"

"We'll have to ask Taliesin when we meet with him in about fourteen hours," Quatre replied. "There is no doubt that Taliesin will fight any attempts to take control of his mind but the problem lies in the fact that Quinze could potentially use drugs to weaken Taliesin, now that the man knows how to bypass Taliesin's ability to filter out the chemicals, and there is no telling how said drugs would affect his control over his mind. Then there is the fact that he just fought off an attempted take over by Zero and while it was clear that he won that battle, it was also quite clear that he was injured in the process. Those injuries could easily affect any future battles he will face since there is no telling how those injuries will affect him."

"But they weren't physical injuries… so they weren't actually real, right? I mean, they'll just disappear after a while, won't they?" Dorothy interjected almost desperately.

"They may not have been physical but they were real enough. Taliesin's mind, magic, and soul are intertwined so tightly that they might as well be one and the same," Trowa countered with a tired sigh. "The point is that there is no separating the three from each other. An example would be his wings; when they first manifested he would not allow anyone to touch his wings because they were made from his magic and directly tied to his soul. At the time, he actually equated the feeling of someone touching his wings to physical intimacy; which in his mind pretty much meant molestation, only of his soul instead of his body. He eventually grew to tolerate them being touched after rediscovering Hogwarts as many of the smaller creatures were fascinated by his wings and tended to cling to them or perch on them but he still avoids letting other people touch them if he can."

Dorothy blushed brightly over that revelation, her mind immediately pulling up the memory of her fingertips running across the unexpectedly warm and soft, leathery scales of Taliesin's wings and his response to those touches. Her reaction of course garnered quite a few raised eyebrows as neither she nor Taliesin had actually told anyone what exactly happened between the two of them at the end of May though they were aware that something did happen. Any embarrassment or half remembered desire fled an instant later though when she abruptly recalled that there was a good possibility that Taliesin would die within the next twenty-four hours.

"Are you alright, Dorothy?" Relena asked in concern as she dropped a hand to the blonde's shoulder.

"I… I'll be fine; I'm just worried is all."

"So… how are we gonna go about gettin' da stubborn brat home?" Duo asked once the moment had passed. "We've got us fourteen hours ta plot and plan and our kid brother is countin' on us ta save his bacon."

"We could just tell him you called him a kid again and he'll probably figure out a way to get home on his own just to hex you for that," Heero quipped with a soft chuckle that helped to relieve the growing tension.

A few grins and laughs were exchanged before the group got down to business and looked at the various options open to them. There were several potential options available; each one carrying a different set of risks. Much depended on Taliesin's physical situation since there wasn't much he could do if he was unconscious though the fact that Wolfstar was currently in space with him helped since the suit could potentially step in to rescue him if needed.

Nearly eleven hours had passed since they'd last seen Taliesin when they were interrupted unexpectedly by an incoming call from Treize Khushrenada who was looking to speak with Quatre (Taliesin had warned them he might call but they'd hadn't thought the man would follow through on Harry's suggestion since the man blamed Harry and Zechs for Une's 'death'). Instead of answering the man's questions, Quatre simply patched him through to Une and let her deal with him.

When the appointed time came for Taliesin to meet with them again, they had high hopes that they'd be able to get him out of there one way or another. Only Taliesin never showed and they couldn't get a response out of Wolfstar.

* * *

Harry opened his eyes about twenty minutes before his internal alarm was set to go off and stretched out the kinks in his back and wings before he glanced down at the still sleeping Wolfstar. The injuries Harry had inflicted upon the sentient suit's avatar had partially healed during their not-quite-nap (as had Harry's own injuries) though it would still be some time before they were completely healed and even then it was obvious that some of them would leave scars; such as the one on Wolfstar's face and the notch in the wolf's ear. Harry sighed and wished it hadn't been necessary but at the time he'd been fighting for his life and his mind and he couldn't afford to pull his punches just to protect the suit's consciousness from harm.

He really didn't have time to think about how his relationship with Wolfstar was going to change because of their recent battle; he had to see if Wolfstar's scanners picked up any new information while they'd been trying to rest and get back to his brothers. Things never seem to go as planned for Harry though and before he could even reach for his connection to Wolfstar, he was being slapped awake. Annoyed, Harry bolted awake and found himself face to face with a rather disheveled Treize and he scowled at the older man. Harry opened his mouth to soundly curse the man only for Treize to cover his mouth with his hand.

"Just shut up and listen," Treize hissed vehemently. "I made a mistake. We only have about six hours before Quinze sends for you and by then it will be too late for Earth. I'm going to help you get out of here but you are going to have to trust me. I realize you have no reason to do so but right now it's your only option because if Quinze gets his hands on you there will be no stopping him. Do you think you can do that?"

Harry let his eyes bore into Treize's for a full minute before he slowly nodded. Treize sighed with relief and removed his hand as he pulled Harry up to his feet, ordering him to remain completely silent. Standing at the door, looking exceedingly nervous, was the man that Harry had mentally dubbed Officer Muttonchops. He glanced back at them and flashed Treize what must have been some sort of signal because the next thing Harry knew Treize was lifting Harry up and draping him over his shoulder; sending more than a little pain through the partially healed bullet wounds on his torso.

The flash of pain coupled with long ingrained dislike of being touched and his distrust of the man currently holding him meant that Harry's first instinct was to fight and he tensed as he prepared to do just that only to recall his agreement to trust Treize for the moment and simply held himself still as he waited to see what the man was going to do next. Harry felt more than heard Treize's second sigh and realized that he'd been worried that Harry was going to fight him despite his earlier agreement to trust Treize.

Two minutes later, their small group was ghosting through the maze-like corridors of an unexpectedly large spaceship. Had he not been agonizing over the threat of death hanging over the unborn magical children back on earth and fretting over what Quinze had planned for him, he might have had the presence of mind to have Wolfstar pull the blueprints for White Fang's spaceship from their computers when he was first brought out into space. As it was, Harry's mind had firmly been back on Earth and far too busy panicking when he wasn't beating himself for running headfirst into trouble without proper planning. It was something he was going to have to rectify if he hoped to make it back to Earth in time to prevent the unborn children from dying due to a lack of magic.

Knowing that, Harry shoved his uncertainties and worries to the back of his mind as started plotting on how he could use his current predicament to his advantage. Tilting his head up, Harry glanced back the way they'd come and noted that the corridors were only lit with emergency lights and he wondered if that meant that Treize had attempted to neutralize the security cameras in the area. He then twisted around so he could glance in the direction in which they were moving only for Treize to actually reach up and swat him across the ass which left Harry gaping almost comically; the man had just _spanked_ him!

Indignation had Harry opening his mouth to tell the man off for his audacity only to close it when he realized his squirming must have off balanced the man or made him think Harry was about to cause trouble. Silently huffing, Harry allowed himself to relax just a touch as he focused his thoughts inward with the intention of connecting to Wolfstar so that he could enlist the suit's aide in escaping. He was distracted this time by the sound of an alarm going off which coincided with Treize and Officer Muttonchops cursing up a storm before the two men took off running.

Harry really didn't like being bounced about on Treize's shoulder (for one it only increased the pain of his recent injuries) but he really didn't have much of an option because his feet were still cuffed at the ankles just as his wrists were still cuffed behind his back. Both in strange electronic handcuffs that Harry could have deactivated in short order but doing so would mean they would be that much harder to remove since they needed to be working in order to disengage the locks. He couldn't help but think that Treize should have removed them so that Harry could be of use in their escape but it was possible that the man hadn't been able to get them off, hadn't thought he needed to bother removing them, or he had worried that Harry would attack him the moment he was free.

_Unless the man isn't actually trying to help me escape,_ Harry thought darkly as he caught the sound of booted feet running towards them.

He nearly swore as he slipped sideways off of Treize's shoulder when the man slid to a halt and dove sideways to avoid the wave of gun fire those footsteps heralded. The wall slamming into his left side didn't help as it reopened the two half healed wounds. Treize roughly jerking him back up onto his shoulder didn't help either and Harry did the only thing he could do; he pressed his face against the man's back to muffle the scream of agony that was torn from him.

Thankfully, Treize was far too busy running for his life at the moment to swat Harry a second time (for drawing attention to them, not that they didn't already have that) but he did clamp his arm tighter about the back of Harry's thighs in order to keep him from slipping a second time. Harry just knew that his entire body was going to be bruised black and blue before this was all over.

Four hours later, after being dragged up and down the eight levels of the huge ship and from starboard side to port side at least three times (no easy feat considering the ship was just over two miles wide and nearly a mile tall), their small group of three was cornered by close to fifty soldiers in one of the many corridor junctions. They'd almost reached the hanger where Wolfstar was being stored once but they'd been chased back out of there and Officer Muttonchops had been shot in the leg with a beam gun. It was their injuries and exhaustion that had eventually led to them being caught along with the fact that their pursuers had access to the security cameras (the men that Treize had set to redirecting the cameras having been caught and disposed of by Quinze's men) and could direct those hunting them to their precise location.

Harry had tried repeatedly to wake Wolfstar so the suit could take control of the cameras but their battle for dominance earlier had done more damage than he originally guessed and the sentient suit's consciousness was currently locked in a healing sleep within Harry's mind. Part of the reason for that was because Harry had merged Wolfstar's avatar with Zero's avatar effectively cutting the free-flowing nature of the link the two had shared previously but Harry didn't know that yet.

Any doubt that Harry had been harboring about the man truly attempting to free him was washed away the moment they'd been cornered by Quinze's men. The retaking had been anything but pleasant for all three fugitives but most especially for the two older men. Treize had the crap beat out of him by a group of five rather brutish looking men and Harry had an eerie flashback to the day he destroyed the Lunar Base and he stumbled across Zechs taking a beating. Officer Muttonchops, whose actual name Harry learned was Kratz Shelby, was roughed up a bit as well but no where near as badly as Treize.

That didn't mean Harry was spared from the rough handling but other than adding to his still forming collection of bruises they didn't beat him outright like they did the other two. And the only reason they left him alone for the most part was because Quinze needed him alive and in relative good health for whatever it was the man had planned for him.

That didn't stop Harry from fighting back though and he used his bound feet as best he could to knock the soldiers about and generally just make a nuisance of himself. That only lasted for about a half an hour though, which was how long it took for a rather harried looking nurse to turn up with a huge syringe filled with curare and injected it directly into the back of his neck after getting about ten of the soldiers to hold Harry down. The paralysis set in shortly after that and he was soon hooked up to an IV directly to the neck feeding a constant stream of the paralyzing poison to his body.

And he didn't even have the comfort of passing out so that he could tell his brothers what had happened and why he was late for their meeting because the stupid nurse had also pumped him full of something else that felt like pure caffeine that was keeping him wide awake.

Quinze, when he finally showed up some forty minutes after they'd been subdued, was in a fine temper; his plans had nearly been foiled by the man that was supposed to be on his side after all. Harry wasn't quite certain what possessed him but the moment he saw the look on Quinze's face, he started laughing. Since he was paralyzed again, his laughter came out half slurred (as if he was drunk) and rather disturbing sounding which made the soldiers guarding him shift uneasily as they all immediately thought of Harry's title as Demon of the Stars. It was the unhinged look in Harry's eyes that really scared them though as he truly looked insane as his eyes glowed faintly with magic in his efforts to banish the poison that was half killing him.

"Get him back to his cell," Quinze ordered with another scowl. "Go with them and make certain that he wasn't seriously injured by Khushrenada's fool stunt, Nurse Walker; I need him to be able to function normally or he is worthless to me. And so help me, if you lose him between there and here I will see to it that each one of you is ejected out into space without a spacesuit. I have been waiting for this day for over twenty years and I will not allow anyone to screw this up! Well what are you waiting for!?"

Getting dragged backwards by the neck of your spacesuit across over two miles of twisting and turning corridors while in pain and paralyzed is _not_ a pleasant way to pass an hour. Harry swore that sadistic nurse had purposefully dosed him up in order to keep him conscious just so that she could torture him. He got further proof of her sadistic nature when she had the soldiers stripe him and then began her painful poking and prodding into each and _every_ one of his many bruises and injuries.

And then she'd given him a second dose of the drugs to keep him awake and paralyzed while she stitched up the two gunshot wounds (which actually counted as four injuries since both bullets had gone in one side and out the other) without an anesthetic. Screaming and yelling obscenities through his poison locked jaw only made it worse because she knelt on his wing and ground it soundly against the ground each time he insulted her; intentionally.

When she tried to stitch the three or four gunshot wounds on his right wing the same way after brutally yanking off the tape that bound his wings, Harry went into cardiac arrest due to the combination of pain, drugs, and poison and the sadistic wench nearly soiled herself in fear because if Harry died, then Quinze would have her thrown off the ship. The worst of it was that even though his heart had stopped beating and he couldn't breathe, Harry still couldn't reach his mindscape. He was currently in so much pain that he couldn't even concentrate long enough to reach out to brush Wolfstar's consciousness; who was still sleeping off his wounds in Harry's inner mind.

On the whole it was two hours of sheer agony that Harry really, _really_ could have done without. When he was finally stable and relatively pain free (since oh-god-just-amputate-the-arm-already didn't hurt anywhere near as badly as the oh god why-can't-I-fucking-die-already-it-hurts-so-bad pain he'd been experiencing just a short while earlier) his eyes promised the woman an eternity of pain for what she'd put him through. That would be the last time Harry saw the woman and he greatly suspected the Quinze had carried through with his threat and ejected her from the ship without a suit because the woman had come quite close to killing Harry.

He actually had a hard time believing that he'd actually lived through that nightmare and would later wish that it was possible to Obliviate himself so that he wouldn't have to keep reliving through the ordeal in his nightmares.

By that time, the six hours that Treize had told him he had before Quinze came for him had come and gone and then some. And that meant the twenty-four hour time limit that he'd been given by the sadistic leader of the White Fang had slipped through his fingers and he had absolutely nothing to show for it. Worse yet was that he was steadily running out of time before the loss of his magic on Earth began slowly killing off the various children that were so close to being born (humans, elves, centaurs, and creatures alike).

Harry never liked feeling under pressure and feeling as if he was on the verge of failure and at the same time, it was when he was under pressure and inches from failing that he truly excelled. He was just one of those rare individuals who thrived in adversity even if he hated ever single minute of it; he just couldn't be content if his life wasn't being challenged (though he really did prefer those challenges with less bloodshed and fewer lives at risk).

It was while he was worrying about how little time he actually had left to find a solution to his current predicament that Harry fell asleep, his body exhausted and in pain since he hadn't really slept since he'd turned himself over to White Fang. Spending time in his mindscape didn't really count because neither his body nor his mind truly rested when his consciousness was wide awake. The short almost-nap he had after his battle with Wolfstar had helped heal the injuries his soul had acquired but that had done nothing for his body or his mind. Harry would later curse the fact that his body had limits when he learned that he'd lost what little time he had remaining due to falling asleep.

Harry was jolted awake several hours later by a blindingly sharp pain digging into his left temple that would have had him writhing in agony if not for the fact that he was once more bound to a chair. Letting out a pain filled scream, Harry struggled against his bonds while trying to figure out what had happened to him. His attempts to shift himself were futile though as there was someone standing behind him gripping him firmly by the hair and the rather large busted woman straddling his legs with her meaty fists holding his face didn't help either. Whatever the woman was doing though was making the pain worse and Harry screamed a second time as he felt blood trickling down the side of his face. His earlier brush with death, the dull throb and ache of his abused body, and the lingering poison in his system didn't really help matters.

"The first contact point has been successfully set, Quinze sir," the woman hovering in front of Harry announced as she pressed a piece of surgical tape over Harry's temple and picked up a weird round disk with a small needle about a quarter of an inch long surrounded by a circle of even shorter barbed needles (that reminded Harry of fishing hooks) with a short tangle of wires and tubes attached to it. "Did you wish for me to proceed with the second contact point or did you wish me to step back for a moment to allow the subject to be subdued?"

"Finish setting the contact points; we are already twelve hours behind schedule. As weak as he currently is from that imbecile's incompetence, there's really nothing he can do to stop the process at this point anyway."

"Understood, sir."

Harry only had a few seconds to try and process what the two could possibly be talking about when he felt the same pain once more, this time in his right temple, as the woman settled the disk thing over the side of his head and shoved it into place much as she had the first one. Four more of the disks, which the woman referred to as contact points, were then placed at the base of his skull on either side of his spinal cord and at the back of his jaw behind both ears.

By that time, Harry had tears leaking from his eyes from the pain as once they were in place the damn things burned and ached. The woman then began messing with the various wires and tubes attached to the six points and each tug (no matter how gentle) made Harry whimper and groan as the slightest movement made the needles embedded into his temples, behind his ears, and the back of his neck scrap against sensitive nerve clusters and bone. Immediately after the final contact point was in place, the woman was gone and Harry got his first clear view of his current surroundings.

He sucked in a sharp breath as he immediately realized that he was sitting in what was undoubtedly the pilot's seat of a mobile suit. He found he had trouble breathing as he realized that he was most likely sitting inside of the Epyon and he felt his stomach heave (even if he had nothing in his stomach he could throw up). Harry weakly fought against his bindings but only managed to send pain shooting through his head and neck as his movements shifted the needles. Stilling, Harry panted and closed his eyes as he fought back the utter hopelessness and helplessness he felt and sought his center.

"Don't worry, demon child, it will all be over soon," Quinze soothed as he crouched down beside Harry inside of the cramped cockpit and shifted Harry's bangs out of his face. "Epyon will carry your name on into infamy as you inspire fear even as you bring freedom to space."

"You may have locked me in this damn suit but you still can't force me to do your dirty work for you," Harry rasped weakly as he glared at Quinze with his green eye.

"In any other suit you'd be correct. But Epyon? Epyon is special; you see I designed a program to piggy back on the Epyon's Interface system that will allow me to directly influence the pilot's brain while he is under the influence of the system. While similar in nature to the Zero Interface found in Wing Zero, Epyon far outclasses Zero in every way. Epyon will remove the reality you know and replace it with a new reality that I will dictate to Epyon and there is nothing you can do to fight it because you won't even realize it is happening. With your unequaled skill as a pilot and my word dictating your every action; you and I shall raze the Earth together. And the best part is that you handed us the only suit in existence that could have stopped the Epyon on a silver platter when you brought us Wing Zero."

"I will die before I bow down to your will," Harry hissed as he reached forcefully through the pain and woke Wolfstar with a sharp mental prod. The sentient suit's consciousness (now mostly healed from their battle), responded at once (if a bit sluggishly) and Harry felt a measure of relief course through him as he hadn't been certain the suit's consciousness would respond (since it hadn't stirred during previous attempts to wake him). Needing to give the suit a few minutes to reorient itself, Harry refocused on the here and now as Quinze began speaking once more.

"The moment I turn on Epyon and activate the machine you've been hooked into everything that ever made you who you are will be gone. By the time I release Epyon into space, you will not even remember your own name let alone those you childishly call your family. Today… today you truly become a demon and under my guidance you shall turn Earth into a living hell before I send you and Epyon on a course directly into the sun."

"I will give you one last chance to surrender and release me," Harry countered in an authoritative tone laced with magic as he turned his head just enough so he could look Quinze in the face with both eyes.

"Stupid boy, I have you at my mercy. There is no need for me to surrender to you."

"Fossor teneo haud reus," Harry intoned solemnly.

Quinze just sneered distastefully at Harry, picked up a helmet that was sitting on the console, and connected the various wires dangling from contact points to their corresponding nodes on the helmet. The man then jammed the helmet over Harry's head with little to no concern for Harry; sending excruciating pain through Harry's skull as all six contact points were roughly jostled. It didn't take long for the man to lock the helmet into place and hook it up to a machine positioned just out of Harry's sight behind the pilot's chair.

The moment Quinze flipped on the power switch of the machine, Harry felt a thrum of electricity buzzing about his head but he ignored the strange sensation in favor of giving Wolfstar his orders; the wizard allowing the sentient suit to reclaim a small fraction of his self control so that he could hunt for the handful of prisoners that Harry had ordered him to rescue.

When he reopened his eyes it was to find Quinze powering up Epyon and Harry began mentally preparing himself for the coming battle; instinctively knowing it was going to be far harder for him to beat Epyon into submission than it had been to take and keep control of Zero. He only hoped that his magic would short out the suit (without setting off the faulty, incomplete ward and blowing himself up) before the fight carried on for more than a few minutes because he didn't think he was in any condition to take part in a long, drawn out battle (mentally or physically).

It was at that moment that a wave of what felt like acid poured through the six contact points that had been attached to his skull. A jolt of electricity followed and Harry felt his jaw lock as blackness ate away at his consciousness. The last thing he heard before the world fell away from him was Quinze thanking him for making it possible for him to carry out his revenge. The blackness Harry soon found himself in was all encompassing and unnerving since normally he would have appeared within his mindscape by now. A trickle of unease wormed its way into Harry's thoughts as he suddenly sensed something else in the darkness with him and he knew that Epyon was in there with him and that the Artificial Intelligence that made up the Epyon Interface was hunting him.

Harry did not like being hunted; he was the alpha wolf and he would not be hunted like some frantic rabbit caught outside of the warren by a half starved fox.

He would not stand for it and he gave out a primal howl that spoke of pure rage and felt the blackness around him ripple in response. His wordless cry gained strength as he pulled on his magic and reasserted his will on his mindscape only to find that there was something preventing him from stepping into his inner mind. Understanding flooded Harry as he realized that the feeling of acid eating away at his mind was some kind of drug that was designed to weaken his control over his own mind. He wasn't about to take that lying down though and Harry changed tactics and became a mere shadow within his own mind as he began stalking his prey using his magic to see where his eyes no longer worked.

An hour (or possibly two) later, Harry still hadn't found his prey and he was getting seriously pissed as he was now being shocked at irregular intervals which disrupted his hold on his magic and his ability to think clearly. The thing that frightened him the most was the idea that Epyon had already conquered him and the reason he was trapped here in the endless dark was because Quinze was on the other side of his mind controlling his every move. He couldn't even sense his connection to Wolfstar anymore because of the interference from the drug and the electrical charges that kept throwing him off center (and because the connection they'd once shared had been twisted).

It was when he recognized the icy cold feeling of despair that was slowly creeping up on him (a coldness that reminded Harry of the dementors he'd faced in third year) that he suddenly realized what was happening; Epyon was using his own fears and frustrations against him trying to get him to either give up or turn on himself so it could attack him when he was defenseless. Sitting down, Harry waited for the next wave of electricity to sweep through him.

The moment it jarred his thoughts, Harry reached out to his magic and instead of merely grabbing a thread like he had been doing since he'd first found himself trapped in the dark; he latched onto the overflow that had been gathering since he modified his core and flooded his entire body, mind, and soul with as much magic as he possibly could. His entire world suddenly lit up as the murky drug induced darkness shattered and Harry suddenly found himself standing inside of his House of Mirrors with a sinister form lurking in the shadows of his mind and looming threateningly over him. The new awareness made him realize that if he'd just kept wandering that he'd eventually have led Epyon right to his magical core and therefore right to his soul and the battle would have been over before it even began.

Fury raced through Harry at how easily he'd been deceived within his own mind and he pulled on his magic again (pulling directly from his core this time) and launched himself at his newly revealed foe.

At the same time as Harry was shattering the hold the drugs had on his mind, his body (freed from his restraints the moment he fell unconscious) began arching backwards as a maelstrom of uncontrolled magic exploded outwards. The amount of magic Harry had pulled free from the reserve reservoir was far more substantial than Harry had known when he latched onto the pool of magic and even if he'd been conscious he would have been hard pressed to control that much raw magic. Unconscious, as he was and completely focused on his mental battle, Harry didn't even attempt to reign in the magic he'd unleashed.

The result was a shock wave of magic exploding outwards that should have destroyed anything remotely technological in nature over a hundred mile radius; instead the magic washed up against the extra fine spider webbing of Harry's stolen blood that had been painted over the inside of the cockpit. Everything not painted (such as the machine delivering measured doses of the mind weakening agent and the bursts of electrical disruptions to Harry's brain, the cameras that had been installed in the suit to monitor him, the self destruct device, and a handful of tracking devices) immediately ceased to function. Those systems that had been painted with even a single drop of Harry's blood, on the other hand, were given a measure of protection as Harry's magic recognized the trace amounts of magic in his blood.

The sheer volume of magic pouring out from Harry was far too much to contain within the weak and thinly spread blood though and the magic soon slammed into the very suit. When it reached the outer armor it ran into a second barrier of blood, one that was far stronger (since they'd used more blood outside than they had inside) and Harry's wild magic found itself trapped inside of the suit. With no place to go and more magic still rolling off the furious mage, the magic did the only thing it could do; it began systematically taking over the suit in which it had been trapped while the volume of magic flooding Harry's entire body began physically affecting Harry at the same time.

When Harry's magic had breathed life into Wolfstar, the Wing Zero suit had been protected against the innate nature of Harry's magic to alter matter (or energy) on an atomic level and therefore the magic could not actually reach down inside of the suit to significantly change it on a structural level. The Epyon had no such protection because Harry's blood alone is not enough to establish the rules and guidelines magic needed to order to perform the task that it was given. The only thing Harry's blood did was to contain the magic within the suit as it acted like a barrier due to the way it had been drawn onto the suit; the crisscrossing webs catching and holding the magic like a spider web would catch and hold a fly.

Unlike the fly, Harry's magic didn't fight and struggle to escape once it found itself trapped; instead it began modifying the place in which it found itself trapped; claiming the suit as its own because it recognized pieces of itself in Harry's blood and therefore saw the suit as an extension of itself.

At the same time, the magic pulsing through Harry's body was forcing his body to undergo changes for the third time in his life as his small stature was unable to house that much magic for long before it would begin tearing him apart from the inside out. Magic had no wish to die though, the energy just sentient enough to know it needed to 'fix' Harry in order to allow his body to handle the magic he'd unleashed in his desperation.

The first thing the magic did was clear the drugs and poison from his bloodstream and healed what it could of Harry's wounds (healing magic wasn't instantaneous after all and bruises took longer to heal because a bruise is mostly made up of free flowing blood, ruptured cells, and broken veins and while the actual damage is easy to fix, the blood and tenderness remain until the body breaks it down). The second thing it did was to once again add height to his frame and length to his wings (splitting the seams of the spacesuit he wore in the process). Finally, the magic rushed through his body improving and strengthening his entire body on a cellular level while also proportionally increasing his muscle mass in order to accommodate his knew height (the magic simply speeding up the natural growth of his body).

While the mobile suit and his body were undergoing changes around him, Harry's mind was fighting against Epyon and Quinze (who was trying to exert his will through his non-existent control). Quinze had appeared in Harry's mindscape about ten minutes after he'd shattered the influence of the drugs on his mind. The man had been completely shocked to find himself in Harry's mindscape and to see Harry fighting against the mental avatar of Epyon's operating system. Harry had to hand it to the man, he was a persistent little shit as he refused to give up despite the fact that the older man and the Artificial Intelligence of the interface system of the Epyon were both steadily (if slowly) losing ground.

There was no way in hell that Harry was going to lose inside of his own mind though; no matter how exhausted he felt or how much pain his body and soul were in.

Outside of the suit where the fate of both the organization known as White Fang and the future of the magical world were being decided; complete and utter panic was spreading through the entire ship like wildfire. In the control room, Quinze had fallen unconscious the moment he connected his consciousness to the Epyon's system thinking to control Harry's actions through the system in order to destroy the earth. The old man soon began having seizures each time Harry landed a successful attack on the man's mind which had been drawn into Harry's mindscape by his magic and the program that had been designed to control Epyon's pilot while the nurses and doctors on his staff trying and failing to stop said seizures.

Down in the hanger bay where Epyon was stored, the soldiers that were supposed to be preparing launch the suit out into space were dancing back in a complete panic as wave after wave of unbelievable heat began pouring off the formidable suit; the Gundanium that made up its armor glowing the color of dried blood as the spider webbing of actual blood that had been painted on it pulsed bright red like veins beating in time to a heartbeat.

On the opposite side of the ship, the newly revived Wolfstar was sewing more terror as he ran through the corridors in his wolf form; cutting down any soldier that dared stand in his way as he navigated towards the prison cells in search of the men he'd been tasked with saving. The sentient suit was simultaneously tearing through the mainframe of the White Fang's battleship; downloading a steady stream of data files and video surveillance to the Command Center sitting safely inside of Hogwarts and directly to the suits of the pilots under Harry's command as he'd been instructed to do earlier.

All through the ship chaos reigned supreme; alarms were blaring loudly, soldiers were fighting each other as those loyal to Treize faced off against those loyal to White Fang, and numerous systems began failing across the ship due to stray gun fire, Wolfstar's razor sharp claws, and the searing heat now rolling off Epyon. Those soldiers that were not fighting were fleeing as they grabbed the nearest spacesuit, climbed into the first mobile suit or spacecraft they came across, and fled the faltering battleship in terror. Inside of the prison cells, seven men felt hope; not for themselves but for those on Earth as they fully believed that one remarkable child was once again pulling off the impossible.

Inside Harry's mind, the battle raged on…

* * *

**Translations:** Latin to English

Fossor teneo haud reus – Fools know no bounds (not 100 percent certain this is correct but it is what I was given by the on-line translator)

* * *

**AN:** _*Whistles nonchalantly while attempting to appear completely innocent* You know... there's just something about Harry that makes it easy to turn him into 'Fate's Perpetual FallBoy'. JKR established him as a glutton for punishment very early in the series as he constantly allows himself to be thrown into dangerous situations. I might pick on him just a tad bit more than canon though... just a tiny bit though. _

_Anyway, notes... Kratz Shelby... I know the description I gave for 'Officer Muttonchops' doesn't fit with GW Canon but in my defense, when I was first looking for a canon soldier to use, the wikipedia for GW had the muttonchop soldier's picture on Shelby's page. It has since been corrected but I"m too lazy to change the name and so my Kratz Shelby is the muttonchop wearing soldier. _

_Harry's latest growth spurt... this will be the last magical growth spurt that Harry will go through and the explanation as to why he's gone through such a change will occur in later chapters. I should also point out that Harry won't suddenly be six foot tall and looking like a bodybuilder now... his magic was just fixing him and making his body stronger so that he would survive his current ordeal. _

_Last note... Treize; I so wanted to kill him off in this chapter... my muse refused to allow me to do so. I also don't see his change of heart here in this chapter out of character for him given the fact he had a similar change of heart in canon. No, Harry won't suddenly become best buddies with him now just because the man attempted to help him escape. I'm not going to say anything further though because I don't want to give away any plot points._

_Anywho... I hope the action in the chapter had you on the edge of your chair. I should have the next chapter out sometime before Friday but I make no promises. The last thing I need to say before I sign off, is to thank everyone who has left a review; I've tried to read them all even if I haven't answered them and they are all appreciated. =) ~ Jenn_


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